Uncharted Waters
by thatwitchyotaku
Summary: A young archeologist in search of adventure makes tough decisions when she is caught in the middle of a conflict between a treasure hunter and pirates in search of treasure beyond imagination.
1. Chapter 1

"The blink of an eye- that's just how quickly life can go from being sunshine and daisies to being a complete and utter cluster-fuck. In just the blink of an eye, a girl could go from having her whole life ahead of her, to not knowing which moment may be her last. At least, this is how I see it from where I'm sitting. And where I'm sitting, I should add, is in a damp, dimly moonlit cell, tied tightly to an ungodly uncomfortable chair, in the middle of an Amazonian jungle. Yep, my life officially blows more than George Michael on a Friday night."

"Christ, do you ever shut up?" A man's voice came from the other side of a door just before it loudly creaked open.

"What can I say? A girl's gotta find a way to pass the time," Valerie answered, a bit annoyed to have been interrupted. "And trust me, I've had plenty of time to come up with a little monologue, which you ruined," she added. The man took a few more steps into the room until he could be seen by the beam of moonlight shining through the single, barred window in Valerie's cell. Atoq Navarro, a mercenary who, in Valerie's opinion, took himself way too seriously, had a smug smile on his face as he looked down at her in such a pitiful state. He unlocked the door to her cell, pulled a chair for himself and sat in front of her.

"And I wonder, have you had enough time to reconsider your story?" he asked. Valerie rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated _huff._

"I already told you my story. You just don't believe me. And, I'd say 'that sounds like a _you_ problem', but you've really got my hands tied, here. That kinda make's it my problem. I really wish you would listen; you could easily fact check this," she explained. Navarro slowly got up from his seat and paced the length of the cell, presumably recalling the details of Valerie's explanation for being on that particular island. He stopped his pacing right next to her, and without warning, slapped her hard enough to leave a mark that would last well after the sting wore off. She gasped, completely caught off guard.

"That story is bullshit. Now, tell me what you know, or this won't end well for you," he threatened her, his face inches from hers, his eyes glaring, trying to intimidate her. She slowly exhaled, trying to remain calm.

"I'll say it again. I'm on an expedition by myself. I received a grant from my university to do field research here, and that's all. I'm here looking for fossils- I'm studying evolution. It's my job. I gotta tell ya, I'm getting _really_ tired of repeating myself," she explained calmly. Navarro let out a small, fake laugh.

"Come on. Help me help you. Do you honestly expect me to believe that these supposedly intelligent people let a lone woman come to a dangerous, uncharted island on her own to research some stupid fossils? Please, make it easy on yourself, and tell me something I can believe. And think long and hard about what you choose to say next." There was a long pause before Valerie was ready to answer.

"Okay," she sighed. "Do you have hair growing in your ears or something? I mean, you're obviously blessed with thick hair. It's just- you seem to have a bad hearing problem. You should really get that checked out," Valerie said with a smile playing on her lips. She may have started laughing, but her smile was quickly wiped away when he struck her so hard that he knocked her seat off balance. She collided with the cold, hard stone floor and fought the urge to let out a loud groan. She instead settled for a silent cry. At least he couldn't see her tears. She could hear the shuffling of his feet behind her, coming closer. He kneeled beside her and stroked her matted hair before roughly grabbing it and lifting her head off the ground.

"I'm going to leave you here for the night- just like this. And tomorrow, I'm going to give you one more chance. If I think you're lying, I'm going to put a bullet in that pretty face of yours. So, rest up. You've got a big day tomorrow," he said before letting go and leaving without another word, leaving Valerie lying on the floor. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She could feel the panic slowly boiling up inside her. She continued to take slow breaths until she could suppress the sensation of drowning that she always felt when she was panicking.

"Yup," she said to herself. "definitely more dicks than George Michael on a Friday night…on a gay cruise. Let's be real here; I'm probably going to die tomorrow. I don't have the energy- or time- to process this, so I think I'll skip denial, anger, depression and bargaining and just go straight to accepting that I'm fucked. I guess I've lived a full life for twenty-six, and this is a hell of a way to go out. It's a better ending than I could have ever imagined for myself. All I can do now is come up with my famous last words and wait," Valerie thought out loud to herself.

 _Plip…plop…plip…plop_

A harsh rain had come earlier in the day, and what was left was now slowly dripping and collecting in a pool in the small, barred window of Valerie's cell, keeping her from getting any sleep. She resorted to counting drops, rather than sheep, until the first signs of daylight could be seen. Footsteps could be heard just outside the room, and Valerie became more tense as they approached. The door swung open loudly, and a different man walked in. He looked down at her lying on the floor, shivering, and she glared up at him.

"Let me guess- you must be 'good cop', right? 'You gonna pretend to be my friend, offer me some coffee, maybe a cookie, and try to get some info out of me? Look, I already told your fuck-face friend everything, so do me a favor and get it over with," she said, feeling particularly bitter. This new man smiled and laughed.

"I like you. You're fiery," he said as he unlocked her cell and joined her inside. He gently lifted her seat upright and sat directly in front of her. "He really did a number on you, didn't he?" he marveled as he looked her over, gently touching a cut on her face from falling on the floor, and then pulling away when she winced in pain. "I bet he didn't even ask your name. Would you tell me?" he asked. Valerie couldn't help rolling her eyes.

"You're seriously doing the good cop routine. Fuck off."

"You're upset. I get it. Why don't I start with my name? It's Eddy." There was a long pause while the two stared at each other, Eddy waiting expectantly, and Valerie disinterested. "Okay, look," Eddy started when he realized they were getting nowhere, "I believe your stupid fossil story. I think you may be able to help us find what we're looking for. We find strange artifacts all the time. We have hundreds of pictures of imprints and markings taken all over the island that we don't know what to make of. When dipshit comes down to interrogate you later, I suggest you tell him what he wants to hear, and you make him believe we need you, got it?" There was another long pause, yet he seemed more confident that he'd get an answer now.

"I guess I don't have anything to lose. Either that, or die, right?" Valerie exclaimed, not so much answering Eddy as much as thinking out loud again. "I just wish I had some idea what to say," she added, looking up at him expectantly.

"You ever hear stories about El Dorado?" he asked her.

"The city of gold? Sure, I guess. Ancient civilization that I believe the Spanish were after? I dunno, why? Do you guys really believe a place like that exists?" she asked in disbelief that anyone could be so crazy. Eddy just shrugged and got up from his seat and stepping towards her in one motion.

"My boss believes, that's all I know. If you don't want to die, you better make them believe they need you," he said as he gently laid her on her side again. He then exited her cell and locked it behind him.

"Hey, wait," she stopped him before he left the room completely.

"I don't know why you're helping me…but thank you. My name is Valerie." Eddy slowly turned around with a disingenuous smile on his face.

"I'm not doing this for you. I don't get paid until we find El Dorado, and if I think you can be at all useful, I'm not going to let dipshit kill you just so he can feel tough," he said bluntly before closing the door behind him. Valerie wasn't quite sure what to make of her situation now.

"Oh, god," she suddenly thought to herself, "I hope he doesn't expect some weird, sexual favors if I manage to pull this off." The thought alone made her want to vomit. "I mean, how long has it been since any of us have bathed? No one ever comments on these things in movies or video games, but it's true! And it's disgusting." She kept thinking the conversation over and over trying to decide if this Eddy could be trusted. No matter how she looked at it, whether he could be trusted or not, the fact remained that she had absolutely nothing to lose. Just as she was beginning to grasp her reality, footsteps could be heard approaching.

 _Shit, that was fast. I didn't have time to think of a story,_ Valerie thought to herself, quietly for once. Her heart rate jumped to a dangerous pace when she saw the door opening. As she expected, Navarro stepped into the room, looking as smug as she had remembered the night before. Her blood began to boil the longer she looked at his face. Some people just carry a certain air of arrogance and douche-baggery that Valerie couldn't stand.

"Sleep well?" he asked, being blatantly condescending.

"Ha! You're too funny. What clown college did you graduate from?" Valerie asked in the same condescending tone. The smile now vanished from Navarro's face, clearly annoyed that she wasn't feeling more cooperative yet.

"You are so relentlessly annoying," he sighed as he unlocked her cell and approached her. He lifted her back up and sat across from her. She could see in his facial expression that he was in no mood for jokes now. She stole a glance at the gun holstered on his leg and again felt her heart rate jump. "So," he began, and Valerie quickly looked back up at his face, "are you ready to talk?" Valerie took a deep breath, if only for just a few more seconds to come up with a story.

"Okay," she began, "I _am_ an archeologist, and I _am_ studying fossils. That was true. But…" she stalled, not sure what to say. He looked like his patience had just about run out, and he quite conspicuously put his hand on his gun. "I'm not studying evolution," she lied. "Truthfully, I'm looking for evidence of a lost civilization, and that's all. I know the Spanish were here at one point looking for…something. I thought my background might give me an edge, so here I am." That was it. That was the best she could come up with on the fly, and she was praying to whatever powers may be that it was enough. Navarro was seeming notably interested now.

"Look- I don't want trouble. In fact- I want to help," she continued, and his expression changed from mild interest to complete shock. "You're looking for it too, right? The lost city? El Dorado?" she asked.

"Shut up!" he ordered her suddenly, and she froze, afraid to even breathe. He stood up and began slowly circling her, like a shark circling its helpless prey.

 _Shit, shit, shit! He's not buying it. I gave away too much. I think he knows someone helped me. Shit, fuck!_

"I don't like you," he plainly stated. "I don't think you're being completely honest with me. But, your 'background' may prove useful yet. I would hate to kill you without giving you a chance. As it turns out, we've found quite a few strange imprints and artifacts that you may be able to shed some light on," he said. Valerie let out a sigh of relief.

"You don't say," she breathed.

"I am going to make you an offer that you can't refuse," Navarro said, now behind Valerie, his hands on her shoulders and his face inches from hers. "You work for me now. I'll give you a prestigious title as 'head archeological expert' on this little expedition. You help us find what we want, and be a good girl, and in return, I don't kill you." Valerie quickly nodded.

"Yes, I accept, thank you," she sputtered, just overwhelmingly glad to be alive still. He then untied her and she stretched her arms and legs before standing up for the first time in days.

"You'll be working very closely with mercenaries on this island. You'll quickly learn how things work here. I suggest you become acquainted with their leader, Eddy." He explained, before giving her a light shove on her back, suggesting her to get moving. Valerie began walking, Navarro behind her. "Oh, and if I think for one minute you're dicking around or lying, I _will_ kill you," he nonchalantly added as he shut the door behind the both of them.

The blink of an eye. That's how quickly Valerie's life went from completely fucked, to only mildly fucked. Still, if she could live another day, she would take it.

"And that's the story of how I became a pirate," Valerie proudly stated from the passenger seat of Eddy's jeep about two weeks later. Two of his pirates in back groaned.

"Will you _please_ shut up? We've heard the story at least ten times now," one of them said.

"Oh, you boys already know the answer is 'no'," Valerie said with a smile. She noticed Eddy silently smiling to himself as he continued to drive.

"Settle down you three," he said. "We're getting closer to the crash site. Be ready in case there are any survivors." They all nodded in agreement. Valerie struggled with the very idea of putting someone in the same situation she was in not too long ago. She wasn't a pirate, and she wasn't a murderer. She was only lucky to be slightly useful to these people, and she planned on riding that train as far as she could, always worrying about what she would do on the day that train finally wrecked. She had no idea though, that that day would be today.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you think anyone survived the crash?" one of Eddy's men asked from the back seat of his jeep as they approached the crash site. Valerie shrugged.

"Probably. I know I saw at least one person parachuting down before the plane landed. I think I saw one jump a little later, but I'm not really sure," she explained. On the outside, she remained calm, but she could feel anxiety welling up inside the pit of her stomach. She feared what would happen if and when they found survivors, and she feared what she might have to do.

"We'll have our answer soon enough," Eddy said, snapping her out of it. "We've got another search team a few miles out to look for the first jumper. If there was a second, they'd be closer to the site of the crash." In the distance, the front half of a plane could be seen suspended in a tree top. It seemed messed up to think so, but Valerie wished that they would find no survivors. As they pulled up to the daunting scene, Valerie took notice of the surrounding area: the many pillars, stone walls, and powder kegs strewn all over the place.

"This would be a convenient spot for a gun fight," she thought aloud. They all stepped out of the jeep and gazed up at the plane, not knowing what to do next. "Well, who's going to climb up there?" Valerie asked finally, annoyed by the silence and lack of initiative. The two nameless pirates they had brought with them didn't answer and instead only looked around waiting for someone to answer. Valerie rolled her eyes. "Fine" she finally huffed, "I'll do it. You two just- go do something. I don't care what," she ordered as she searched her backpack for a rope. She finally found it and tied a small noose at one end, leaving the other end untied.

"Geeze, what a bitch," she heard one of them mutter under their breath.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and piss and moan. I know, it's hard. It was okay when you thought I was just a sex object to keep around, but now I'm your boss and that makes me a bitch. I get it," she said as she threw the long, untied end of the rope over a tree branch so that it would still hang low enough for her to grab on to. "I forgive you, though," she added as she slipped one foot into the small noose she had tied into the other end. "We're all victims of a systematic brainwashing and conditioning by society. The fact is, though, that I'm more qualified than you, so your boss promoted me. So get over it," she snapped, not in the mood for anyone's sexist bullshit at that moment. Normally, she would joke around with the men, but she was feeling especially sick, so she decided to play the tough girl act harder until she was feeling more like herself.

She grabbed onto the loose end of the rope, and with her own upper body and core strength, began pulling herself up using her makeshift pulley system. The two pirates dispersed and began searching the surrounding area. Eddy stood at the ready with an AK-47.

"Be careful, Valerie," he called up to her.

"Yeah, ok, mom," she answered sarcastically. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her head, and her arms began to burn as she continued to climb. She pulled herself just high enough to touch the plane with her hands. She grabbed onto the open ledge of the plane and pulled herself the rest of the way up, leaving the rope hanging on the branch.

She felt overwhelmingly relieved to find no one in the plane. Valerie moved slowly toward the cockpit, instinctively holding her breath, as if that would make her any lighter. Her stomach dropped with every metallic _creak_ as the teetering plane bobbed up and down with every move she made. When she finally worked her way up to the captain's seat, she took noticed of an old, folded brown piece of paper. Curious, Valerie took it and gingerly unfolded it, revealing a map.

"Huh. I recognize some of these monuments," she said to herself, and realization suddenly struck that it was a map of the island they were on, only much more detailed than any map Roman had acquired for their expedition. There were chicken scratch notes in sixteenth century Spanish all over it, monuments were circled, and in the corner were several roman numerals, though she had no immediate idea what those could be in reference to.

The excitement was almost too much for her to handle. It took every ounce of her self-control to keep from rushing out of the plane to tell Eddy. After taking a moment to calm down, it became translucently clear to her that this was a gift from whatever powers may be.

 _Shit,_ she thought silently. _Dick-hole's always got his eyes on me. I'll never be able to get this by him, especially now that they pat everyone down each night. I'd have to shove this up my puh, and I'm not about that._

"Hey, Val, you find anything up there?" Eddy called to her.

"No, it's clear!" she yelled back, just in case anyone else was listening. She wanted to share this with him, but she had no idea how. "Well…no better time to test my memory, I guess," she said to herself and began memorizing anything she thought might be important. She took note of a tower that was circled, skimmed a few sentences etched in, and memorized the roman numerals in the corner before folding it back up and placing it where she found it. All three men were waiting for her when she climbed back down to the ground.

"We searched around the area- no sign of survivors," one of the pirates said.

"Did you find anything up there?" the other asked. Valerie shook her head.

"Nah. But, you know what- I think you guys should take another lap around, maybe expand your perimeter. If there was a second jumper, they could have made it at least a mile out by the time we got here."

"You want us to walk for a mile looking for someone that might not even exist?" one of the men asked. Valerie shot him the meanest death glare she could manage.

"No," she started calmly. "I want you to walk a mile out in both directions and walk _in a circle_ until you meet. Then walk back here and report to me," she explained.

"That's horseshit! Boss, she can't seriously expect-"

"Shut it," Eddy suddenly interjected. "You heard the lady. Get going." Valerie smiled at both men as they stormed off, muttering Indonesian swear words under their breath. There was a brief moment of silence before either of them spoke again. Valerie gently bit on her bottom lip while she thought of something to say, something she often did to distract from the feeling of butterflies in her stomach.

"Wow. 'Lady', huh? I didn't know you thought that much of me," she laughed. When Eddy didn't fire back some smart-ass remark, the butterflies quickly turned to unbearable anxiety. She pushed her long, dark hair to one side and began mindlessly tousling it with one hand, another nervous habit. "Something on your mind?" she asked, treading lightly.

"Is something on yours?" he asked her with an expectant look on his face. She nodded and quickly looked around to make sure his two goons were far enough away before she leaned in close to him.

"I found a map," she said quietly, almost in a whisper.

"A map? So what?" he asked, looking slightly interested.

"It's a map of our island, a way more detailed one than we have, that's 'so what'. Look- I didn't take it with me because of how tight security is lately, but I think this is the break we've been waiting for. There were all these extra little notes written on it, things marked and circled-" she had to stop herself. As she continued to speak, her excitement grew, in turn causing her to speak faster and faster.

"Hey, slow down," Eddy said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "So, what are you thinking?" he asked. She backed up and looked at the ground, biting her lip again as she thought about it.

"Okay," she finally said, still speaking in a hushed tone. " _If_ someone survived the crash, they're probably going to make it back here to get that map. I say we station a group of guys here ASAP to guard the place. If anyone shows up, we'll be ready to take prisoners. I have a few questions about the map, so I'd want to do the interrogating; maybe we could make it a team effort," she said, looking up at Eddy to see if she could get a read on his thoughts. After a moment, he smiled down at her and laughed.

"Okay, but I want to be _bad cop_ this time," he said, recalling that day two weeks ago that Valerie herself had been a prisoner and accused him of playing the _good cop._

"Shut up," she said, giving him a solid punch in the shoulder. "But if you get to be bad cop, then I get to crack the jokes, got it?" she said, grabbing his collar and giving it a firm tug, pretending to be tough. She tried to maintain a straight face, but she only lasted a few seconds before she cracked and the two of them started laughing.

"You fucking nerd. So- how do we explain the decision to the boys? They're gonna wanna know why we have them stationed here after you told them we found nothing."

"Shit, you're right," she agreed, annoyed with herself that she hadn't thought of that. "Okay, I'll handle it," she said as she pulled out her walkie-talkie. "Hey, shit-stain, come in," she said into the talkie.

"You know, I really wish you wouldn't call me that," Navarro radioed back.

"Yeah, and I wish I had packed spare batteries for my vibrator; you have no idea how depressing it is to be mid-bate and feel the batteries slowly dying," she shot back.

"You're insane," Eddy laughed.

"God, you're sick. What do you want?" Navarro barked, clearly annoyed.

"Listen, I'm gonna need a squad or two of men here at the crash site."

"What for? We didn't find anything," a new voice radioed in. One of the two men they had brought with them. She slowly turned towards Eddy, shooting him a death glare.

"Who gave them a fucking radio?" she asked him in a threatening tone. "Only you, me, and Navarro are supposed to have them."

"I-I gave them mine. I didn't think I would need one if you and I stayed together," he said, flinching, fully expecting Valerie to strangle him.

"Unbelievable," she huffed before she spoke into the radio again. "Because I fucking said so, that's why," she answered, hoping no more questions would be asked.

"Valerie, what the hell's going on over there?" Navarro demanded. Valerie took a deep breath, and tousled her hair while she maintained the anger she felt.

"I just- think it would be a better use of manpower," she finally sputtered. "You know, instead of searching all over the island for someone who may or may not be here. If anyone is on the island, they're bound to show up at 'the scene of the crime' right? This way, we do the least amount of work by letting the prey come to us. It wouldn't take more than a day, I think." She crossed her fingers and waited in silence for what seemed like an eternity before Navarro answered.

"Fine. It's actually not a bad idea. We'll send a few cars your way. Good work." Valerie's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe she pulled it off.

"Wow, a compliment. That must have killed you. I think Hell might have actually frozen over."

"I hate you," Navarro grumbled, and that was the end of it. Valerie couldn't contain her excitement anymore. She began jumping around uncontrollably.

"We did it!" she squealed and giggled like a school girl.

"Alright, calm down," Eddy said, looking at her like she was some kind of escaped mental patient.

"Are you joking? How can you not be excited?" she demanded. She gently held his face in her hands. "We hold all the cards now. This little operation is ours now. Fuck, _El Dorado_ is ours now. No thanks to your little blunder, by the way, asshole," she said, giving him a light love tap on the cheek.

"Okay, okay. You did good. Don't get cocky. You have no idea how this is gonna play out. Why are you including me anyway? You seem pretty capable; it's not like you need me."

"Ugh. You know," she started, laughing nervously. "I just- hate you the least out of everyone else here, and I thought I'd throw you a bone," she said, flipping her hair and trying to seem cool. He kept looking at her though, waiting for the truth. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, look," she started. "I might act tough around here, but I'm not strong or anything like that. I feel like I have to be someone completely different here. I'm not strong enough to do some of the things I might have to do on this island, and I don't know if I'm strong enough to live with myself afterwards. Two weeks ago, I would have died if you hadn't helped me. I need _someone_ to keep me sane, and distract me from all the things that have me terrified. If I had to pick anyone, it'd be you. I really do hate you least of all." She couldn't even look at him while she spoke. She was too embarrassed, and she was afraid he would think less of her for admitting that she was afraid.

"Hey," he said to her, causing her to look up at him. "You're under duress, right? It's either work with us, or die. There's nothing wrong with choosing to live. Everyone has the right to fight to live. And don't sell yourself short. You were right, earlier. You're more capable than any of the idiots in my crew. So be the villain for now. Make more money than you would ever know what to do with, and then you can go home to your books and your cat," he said as he patted her on the head like a little kid. She wasn't sure what to think. This was a side of Eddy she didn't know existed. She couldn't remember the last time she had an honest conversation like this with anyone, and she didn't know how to react. She thought it was sweet up until he patted her head. Maybe he was just as awkward as she was.

"Thanks for the pep-talk," she finally said. "So, it's me and you, right? Fifty-fifty?"

"Definitely," he said, patting her on the back with a small smile. She rolled her eyes, but found herself smiling anyways. "So- let's get back to the camp," he said, sounding noticeably uncomfortable.

"Alright," she said as they walked together to the jeep, still wearing a smile. "By the way, I don't have any cats. I'm a dog person. You really picture me as the lonely cat lady?" she asked, pretending to be offended.

"Okay, so no cats, but I bet you live alone with more than one dog," he said, looking at her with an irritatingly cocky grin as he started the jeep.

"Damn. You got me," she finally answered, annoyed. Yet, she was still able to laugh as they drove off.

Valerie was sitting in the jeep with her feet propped up on the dash and a book in her hands later that afternoon. Eddy was talking with a few of his men a few feet away. Occasionally Valerie would lift her gaze above her book to sneak a glance at them, trying to read their lips, but it was no use. She sucked at reading lips and they were probably speaking Indonesian anyways.

"What are you doing?" Navarro said from behind her, startling her and causing her to lose her place.

"What does it look like?" she hissed, feeling agitated, not bothering to look away from her book to talk to him. Every time she looked at his face it made her blood boil.

"Geeze, sorry. Good book?" he asked, pretending to be interested.

"Plato's Republic. You wouldn't like it- no pictures. What do you want?" she asked, finally looking up at him.

"Geeze, no need to be so testy. I actually don't want to talk to you. I was on my way to talk to Eddy, you were on my route, so I stopped to say hi. Sorry I bothered you," he said as he walked past her towards Eddy.

"Yeah? Well bite me," she said before returning to her book. It was at that moment that frantic screaming muffled by static and heavy gunfire came through her radio, startling her again and catching Eddy and Navarro's attention. Valerie didn't hesitate before radioing in.

"Calm down, I can't understand you. What the hell is going on out there?" she demanded.

"My men are being taken out by a lone gunman at crash site Alpha! We need backup NOW," someone answered. Valerie took a moment to absorb what she just heard, but couldn't comprehend it. She turned the radio over in her hand with a dumbfounded look on her face and checked to make sure it was working right before she radioed in again.

"WHAT?" she demanded.

"A lone gunman! Send hel-" the signal cut short. Valerie stared at the walkie-talkie in silence and in horror. Hearing someone's last words as they were being murdered is something she just didn't know how to deal with.

"Who the hell are they fighting? Rambo? I want you two and a group of your best men to head out that way NOW," Navarro commanded.

"Right. Let's go," Eddy said, and he and the four men he had been talking to hurried over to the jeep. Before Valerie could even process it, she was on her way to what might possibly be her deathbed.

 _Just- don't go out like a bitch. Go out in a blaze of glory_ , she kept telling herself. She tried to keep cool, but the sensation of drowning was coming, and she was having trouble breathing. Her hands were shaking so she decided to fiddle with her handgun to keep her hands busy.

"Ease up," Eddy said to her, and she instantly felt slightly less sick. "Nobody's dying today."

"Yeah. I really wish I believed that," Valerie said somberly, staring blankly at the scenery as they drove by. "You don't have to sugar coat things for me," she sighed. "It's as good a day as any other to die." She said, already deciding it was best to accept it rather than deny the harsh reality, similar to when she was locked in a cell. She only had a small glimmer of hope inside that she would luck out like she did before.


	3. Chapter 3

"We're too late," Valerie said in almost a whisper, choking back tears. The crash site was now littered with dead bodies. The air was thick with the scent of iron. Valerie couldn't take two steps without stepping into a puddle of blood and hearing a sickening _squish_ beneath her boots. She began to feel light headed and weak in the knees. She leaned against a near-by tree, still barely able to keep herself up even with the tree supporting her, and began to violently throw up. When it was over, she stayed hunched over, gasping for air, her brow dripping with sweat, tears welling up in her eyes, and quivering with emotions: fear, anger, anxiety, and strangely, excitement.

Eddy, with a stern look on his face, commanded his men to inspect the bodies and to be on the look-out for a body they didn't recognize. He walked over to Valerie and put a hand on her back, rubbing it gently.

"Don't touch me right now," she breathed. "Please," she quickly added. He did as she said and pulled his hand away.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked. Valerie couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't a genuine laugh, but somewhere between disturbed and awkward.

"No, I don't think I'll ever be 'okay' again," she answered. She could feel a change taking place inside herself. There was an overwhelming will to survive and live that she had never felt, like she had a reserve of strength she never knew about. She no longer felt like throwing up or crying. Her anxiety was still present, but she no longer felt like it was crippling her. She brushed her sweat-matted hair out of her face and stood upright. "I'm going up," she said, pulling her rope out of her backpack like she had done earlier that day.

"What-why?" Eddy asked her, concerned about her sudden change of behavior.

"If the map is gone, that means whoever did this is still alive and headed for our base. I would like to catch this guy before he makes it that far," she explained shortly as she began climbing up the tree towards the crashed plane. Just as she suspected, the map was gone. She quickly climbed back down to Eddy.

"It's gone. It's fucking gone," she said quietly, for fear that one of his men might hear.

"Okay, so what now?" Eddy asked her.

"I don't know. What do you think?" she asked him, feeling lost. She prayed for some sort of miracle. Then, her prayers were answered, oddly enough, by Navarro.

"Eddy. Valerie. Are you there? We have an issue back at base. Someone's here, and he's killing all our men. Get over here NOW," his voice came in through Valerie's walkie-talkie.

"Well, at least he came to us," Eddy said.

"Yeah, I just hope someone can stop him before he sees all the information we've gathered. I don't even care if they find out about the map, so long as they don't know that we knew about it already." Valerie added. Eddy nodded in agreement and called for his men before they all hopped back in the jeep and drove back to base.

By the time they reached their camp, it was already over. The man was in custody, and Navarro was in possession of the map.

"No thanks to you idiots, we finally caught the man responsible and have him locked in Valerie's old cell," he said with a smug smile on his face. Valerie's blood began to boil.

"We followed your orders. What do you want from us?" Eddy argued in their defense. Navarro only rolled his eyes, refusing to take any of the blame.

"Whatever. I'll handle this from now on. I'll interrogate the prisoner for all he knows, then get rid of him. I'll call you if I need you, but don't hold your breath," he said before turning to walk away.

"Now hold on," Valerie interjected and put a hand on his shoulder. He slowly turned to her, his eyebrow raised, surprised that she would dare even touch him. "I'm getting really tired of missing out on all the action. I want to do the questioning," she demanded. Navarro only laughed in her face.

"Please. Maybe if you didn't look like complete shit, I would consider it. Our hostage might be willing to talk to a pretty face. And even then, what would you do? Flip your hair, flirt, maybe unbutton your shirt? I don't think so- the answer is no," he said, shooing her away with a hand gesture. She absolutely wanted to kill him, but she took a deep breath and kept her calm.

"I might be a few days ripe, and I might look like shit right now, but you'd still eat this pussy if I'd let you," she said, glaring up at him, not willing to back down. It was a stupid comeback, she knew, but she didn't care. Both Eddy and Navarro looked stunned that she had said it, but Navarro quickly recovered and laughed in her face.

"Please. I wouldn't touch you if you were the last woman on Earth. No one would. You're nothing," he said menacingly, getting in her face and smiling wickedly down at her. He knew he had hurt her, and he was loving it. She could feel the tears coming, but she forced them back.

"I beg to differ. You didn't have a problem laying your hands on me two weeks ago. It sure takes a big man to hit a woman when she can't defend herself. Which reminds me, I owe you this, motherfucker," she said before she took out her gun and pistol whipped him with all her strength. Navarro roared in pain, and Valerie lunged toward him, ready to beat him within an inch of his life, but Eddy quickly grabbed her by the waist and yelled for her to stop and calm down.

Navarro struggled to push himself up off of the ground with one hand, using the other to cover his nose, which had taken the full force of the hit. His eyes welled with tears on their own from being struck in the nose, making it hard for him to see. The bottom half of his face and his shirt were drenched in blood, and when he spoke, he sprayed it everywhere.

"You little bitch! I should have killed you when I had the chance," he grunted. Valerie was still squirming in Eddy's arms, trying to get away and land another hit.

"You sound a little nasally. I've got something for you that'll clear your sinuses right up," she threatened, still struggling to free herself from Eddy's arms. Just then a loud gunshot echoed in the air, and the three of them instantly froze. They all turned to see their boss, Gabriel Roman, holding his gun in the air. It was only a warning shot.

"What seems to be the problem, ladies?" he asked calmly, yet somehow still managed to sound threatening. "A little couple's spat?" he added with a smile. No one moved or said anything. Roman walked towards them and circled them, patiently waiting, but still they remained silent. He then turned his attention to Navarro, still doubled over in pain, now trying to stop the bleeding with his shirt. "Looks like she did quite a number on you," Roman said, pointing out the obvious. Valerie struggled, with great difficulty, to resist the urge to smile.

"I'll kill her," he grunted through the pain. "Useless, stupid bitch," he added, looking directly at her.

"You'll do no such thing," Roman said to him with a stern look on his face. "I'd say you had this coming. What, with your history with her, and the way you talk to her, it was bound to happen. And I disagree greatly about her being useless. She's been an asset, translating Spanish scripts, identifying important artifacts- it was even her idea to set up a base here, which is clearly an area of interest to this Drake person. Now, tell me what this is all about," he said, now speaking to Valerie.

"I-I just wanted a chance to interrogate the prisoner myself. We had an exchange of words, and I hit him," she answered, looking down and flinching the whole time, waiting for him to reprimand her. There was a long pause before Roman spoke again.

"Very well. You'll interrogate him. In any case, Navarro is in no condition to do it now. Eddy, I'd like you to have a talk with him as well. I especially think this will be of interest to you. Now, as far as your little feud with Navarro is considered, I think the score has been sufficiently settled. I won't tolerate any more instances like this. I won't have my employees fighting. Is that understood?" he said in that same calm, threatening tone. Valerie nodded.

"Yes, sir. Thank you," and she hastily headed for the interrogation room without another word, still fuming from the whole situation. Eddy quickly followed after her, making sure to grab the map Navarro had dropped on the floor.

"Valerie, wait up," he called to her. When she didn't stop on her own, he grabbed her wrist and stopped her. She could feel the anger building up inside her again. She pictured her eyes turning completely black like a shark before it goes in for the kill.

"Do you really think after what just happened, that you should really be grabbing me?" she asked calmly without looking at him.

"I'm sorry about what happened. I just know you would have killed him if I hadn't stopped you. I wanted to kill him too. He's a piece of shit, I know. He shouldn't have said those things. But killing him won't help us. You need to calm down." Valerie took a long, deep breath while she gathered her thoughts. Then, she quickly whipped around and gave him a push, just enough to give her the space she needed.

"First, _don't_ tell me to calm down. Second, understand this now before we go any further together as partners; I'll see him dead before the end of this. If you're not with me, then you're against me," she explained calmly yet firmly. He nodded.

"I'm with you. Of course, always," he answered immediately and genuinely. There was a short pause before he spoke again, and Valerie could tell he was thinking carefully about the words he chose. "Listen, I'm not good with words, I'm sure you've noticed. But- I don't want you to think I'm trying to…control you or anything when I say or do certain things. You know…because I'm a man and-"

"Stop," she said with a smile and a laugh. "Don't get all mushy on me. You told me you're with me, and I believe you. Anything you do or say, I know is in the interest of ripping off these assholes," she said.

"Thank you," he let out a sigh of relief, glad that the conversation was over.

"So," Valerie said, "why does Roman think you'd be interested in our prisoner?" she asked him out of shear curiosity.

"Well, there's only one asshole named Drake that could have done all of this, and I've waited a long time to settle a score with him."

"Interesting," Valerie said, already sorry she ever asked. "Well, I guess I'll go in there, soften him up, and when I need you, I'll bang on the door a couple times. Just- be ready and waiting outside, okay?"

"You got it. Good luck," he said, giving her a pat on the back.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly before descending the flight of stairs leading to the holding cell. She felt her nerves working against her the closer she got. Her hands began to shake slightly, so she began braiding small strands of her hair to keep her hands occupied. When she had finally reached the door, she took a deep breath and untangled her hair. She opened the door and felt the overwhelming sensation of déjà vu when she saw a man lying on the cold hard floor. Only, his hands were folded comfortably behind his head, and his left leg was bent and propped over his right knee.

 _What kind of shit is this? They're treating him better than me!_ she thought to herself. She suddenly didn't feel like being the good cop anymore. She slammed the door shut behind her, startling him and causing him to sit up and look at her. She was a bit surprised when she got a good look at his face. _Damn. He's fine as all Hell,_ she thought. The man continued to stare at her expectantly, waiting for her to speak.

"So, you're the guy, huh?" she asked, and instantly wanted to shoot herself in the foot. _That was lame, that was lame, that was so lame!_

"Yeah, I guess. 'This your first time?" he asked her with a knowing grin on his face.

"It's that obvious, huh?" she asked, tousling her hair nervously, her head tilted down, looking up at him from under her long eye lashes. She saw a slight change in his face, and he shifted his sitting position ever so slightly, as if she had made him uncomfortable. She smiled to herself, though outwardly it may have looked like she was smiling at him. _Got 'im._ She grabbed a chair and dragged it behind her as she approached the cell and sat informally with her legs on either side, and her head resting on the back.

"So, I got a look at that map of yours. 'Pretty interesting stuff. So, obviously, we're after the same thing here. Why don't we help each other out? I have access to some info that could be useful to you, and you have information that could be useful to us. Why don't we share?" she asked.

"Wow," the man started. "You are _really_ bad at this. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm doing just fine on my own," he said with complete confidence. Valerie let out a single laugh.

"Yeah, I can see that. You've got everything under control," she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, it only took what, a hundred of your guys to lock me up? I can see you guys have everything under control too," he fired back at her.

"Maybe so, but I'm a lot scarier than any of the simpletons you killed. Taking them down is more like shooting fish in a barrel," she answered coldly. She hated herself for talking about human lives that way, but it wasn't untrue. "Being a murderer is really cool, and really funny by the way," she added sarcastically.

"Hey, if anyone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill them right back. That's what I like to say," he defended himself.

"Wow, a murderer _and_ a fucking nerd. That's an interesting combo. Don't flatter yourself by comparing yourself to the great Malcolm Reynolds or even Nathan Fillion, or I swear, by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you," she answered without missing a beat. At that moment, she was imagining Eddy standing outside, listening to everything, and face-palming. She clearly was getting nowhere fast.

"Please. If my life were going to be made into a movie, he would be the perfect actor to play me. Hey, weren't you supposed to be interrogating me or something?" he asked, a cocky grin on his face.

"Cute. We'll see if you're still grinning when you see what we've done to your little friend," she said.

"What, Elena? She's long gone." Valerie gave him the best wicked grin she could.

"I wasn't talking about the girl," she answered, reveling in the confused and concerned look on his face, absolutely loving it. "Look, I know I'm no good at this, but I have a friend who is. I'll ask you one more time to cooperate before I ask him to come down here and _make_ you talk," she offered him one final chance. She was hoping that her little tidbit of information would make him more willing to talk. He remained silent, waiting for her to make a move, as if he was calling her bluff. She rolled her eyes. "Have it your way. I wanted to help you," she said as she walked back to the door and gave it three loud bangs. It was true; she didn't want to see what happened to her happen to anyone else. She did the best she knew how to do while still trying to maintain her humanity, and now, feeling like a complete failure on all accounts, all she could do was sit back and watch, her feet propped comfortably on the table next to her, ready for the show. She only wished she had some popcorn. No more than a few seconds later, Eddy kicked the door in and entered the room.

"Hey, Drake," he said, holding out his arms as if he was greeting an old friend.

"Eddy Raja. I shoulda guessed," the prisoner answered with a smile as he approached as much as he could.

"Fascinating document, huh?" Eddy asked, referring to the map he held in his hand. "Seems like this 'Sir Francis' was in my line of work."

"Don't flatter yourself, Eddy," Drake quickly answered, clearly offended. There was a short pause before Eddy let out an awkward, fake laugh.

"Always ready to be enemies, eh? Tell you what- lead me to the gold, and I just might let you live," Eddy said, taking a seat on the table next to Valerie, feeling overly confident.

 _Damn. He doesn't waste any time. Right to the point,_ Valerie thought to herself as she watched in wonderment. She envied the confidence that both men seemed to have.

"Is that it? Is that my deal? Die now, or help you, and die later? It's a tough call, but, you know what? I'll take 'die now.'"

Valerie couldn't help but let out a laugh, and she immediately regretted it when Eddy turned and shot her a look that said " _Really?"._

"Something funny?" he asked her calmly. Even Drake seemed to be waiting for an answer from her.

"It's just- of course he'd react that way!" she said in her defense. "I mean, no foreplay or anything? Just- right to the dry fuck? You must really slay in bed," she said sarcastically. She could tell he wasn't at all amused by her humor, and she knew she would have to hear about it later. He may have actually been angry with her, but she knew she had a valid point. He gave her the same awkward, fake laugh he had given Drake just moments ago.

"Cute. You had your chance, and if you had been able to do your job, I wouldn't be here now for you to criticize, would I?" he asked, getting in her face now, smiling because he knew she couldn't argue after that. She mouthed the words "Bite me" to him before he smiled and backed away from her, turning his attention to Drake again.

"Wow, you guys are like a well-oiled machine," he said sarcastically.

"Tai kamu!" Eddy yelled as he abruptly got up from the table and briskly walked over to the cell, startling Valerie. "Listen to me, maggot," he started, holding his gun to Drake's head through the bars separating them. "I was promised treasure on this God damn rock. And now, my men are dying. They can't even go out to take a piss without an armed guard, and I have nothing to show for it!" he said, his voice raising in volume as he spoke until he was yelling, and he let out an unintelligible yell in frustration before he began pacing, trying to calm down. "I am making you a fair offer," Eddy said when he finally regained his composure. "You help me find the treasure, and the last man alive gets the gold. And, the girl of course."

"The girl?" Drake asked with a laugh. "Oh, Eddy, the girl's long gone. She's probably off the island by now, going for help."

"Tai kucing," Eddy said with a smile after a brief pause, "You were never very good at poker. I will find her, trust me. How much trouble could one girl be?" No more than a second later, the back wall of the cell was violently torn away as if whoever had done this was waiting for the perfect moment. Sunlight flooded the room, blinding everyone for a moment, but Nathan Drake wasted no more than that split moment to swipe the map away from Eddy in his moment of confusion and bail as a woman sitting in the driver's seat of one of their jeeps yelled for him to get in.

"Oh, I like her!" Valerie said as she sprung from her seat, overcome with excitement and ready for some action.

"Shut up and get this door open! Goddamn it!" Eddy yelled frantically. With a smile on her face, Valerie quickly grabbed a key ring from the belt loop on her shorts and unlocked the cell. They hopped in the closest jeep and Eddy radioed for more men to follow.

"You know, you gotta admit this is kinda funny. You were kinda asking for this to happen," Valeria said, no longer to contain her laughter.

"Shut up and get ready to shoot," Eddy said as he started the jeep and took off, unamused.

"Lighten up," Valerie said as she prepared an RPG. "We're finally seeing some action. Things are just starting to get interesting."


	4. Chapter 4

Valerie stood up in her seat, holding onto the frame of the windshield for support as they sped an easy 60 MPH through the jungle in pursuit of their prey. She enjoyed the wind in her face, and imagined herself having beautiful "Pocahontas" windblown hair. However, with every one of Eddy's men passing them on an ATV, her hair was whipped in a different direction, and she was suddenly feeling less whimsical. She reached for the RPG she had previously loaded in the back seat, and with her posterior resting on her head rest, right knee and foot bent and supported by the back of her seat, left leg standing on her seat, she took aim.

"I'm gonna end this with one shot," she said with complete confidence. Aiming for a cliff overhead, hoping to cause a rockslide that would block their path. However, just as she pulled the trigger, Eddy swerved to avoid hitting a fallen tree in the road. Valerie's heart stopped as it appeared to happen in slow motion, her jaw dropped and arm outreached as if she could stop it. Instead of hitting her target, she hit one of their own men. There was an explosion, and the ATV was engulfed in flames and propelled into the air, appearing to be suspended for a brief moment. Valerie ducked down as they drove under the ATV as it continued to fall.

"Holy shit," she gasped in disbelief. She then looked at Eddy, who seemed way too calm about what had just happened. "That's on you," Valerie said angrily as she punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey!" he yelled and looked at her like he couldn't understand what she was upset about. "Relax. He probably would have died anyway," he reasoned. He held a smile on his face until he saw how shaken Valerie still was. His tone quickly became more somber. "You get used to things like this in my line of work," he explained, looking off in the distance ahead. Though, he seemed to be lost in his thoughts rather than paying attention to the road. "Can you man the machine gun in back?" he asked after he seemed to snap back into reality.

"Sure. Of course," she answered quickly and hopped in the back without a second thought. Valerie thought it was strange how he asked her instead of telling her like he normally would. He didn't seem to be asking if she was competent, but rather if she could bare the emotional burden.

"Hey," she began before she fired up the gun. "If I can't kill, am I still useful to you?" she asked out of curiosity. She could see the look he was giving her in the rear-view mirror, as if it was a stupid question.

"Of course," he answered. "Are you sure you're okay back there?" he asked, a bit concerned.

"Oh, yeah. I'm aiming for their tires as best as I can. If I hit one of them by accident, I think I can handle 'voluntary manslaughter'" she answered, and began firing. "So, what's your history with this guy, anyway?" she yelled over the sound of rapid gunfire in her ear.

"We were business associates once! We go way back!" he yelled back to her.

"Yeah? What did he do?" There was a long pause before he answered again. She wondered if he had even heard her.

"Well, for starters, he slept with my sister!" he yelled. Valerie stopped shooting to hold her hand to her mouth, struggling to suppress her laughter. Her stomach was quivering from all her effort. Eddy raised one eyebrow at her in the rear-view mirror.

"I can see you, you know," he said.

"I'm sorry! It's just- I didn't know you had a sister. I wasn't expecting that to be your answer," she said with a huge smile spread across her face. "Was she bad?" she asked after a brief pause.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You know. _Bad,_ " she said with emphasis.

"You're sick; that's my sister!" Eddy said in horror, and Valerie couldn't contain her laughter anymore. She could see Eddy shaking his head, but in the rear-view mirror she could see a small, shameful smile on his face. His sense of humor was just as twisted as hers. "She did end up betraying us though. So, yeah, I guess you could say she's pretty bad. I haven't seen her since."

"God, your life must be so messed up. I don't even wanna know," she joked and began shooting again. "Hey, could you stop jerking the wheel like it's your dick? I can't get a good shot!" She said, frustrated that she couldn't land a hit. With all the constant swerving and trying to avoid hitting her own men, it was nearly impossible.

"Deal with it!" Eddy snapped.

"Well, at least go faster and get me closer!"

"Do you wanna drive?" he shouted back at her. Valerie quickly became frustrated as she saw one ATV after the next whip past them with ease only to become engulfed in flames.

"As a matter of fact, I do!" she answered as she leapt from the jeep and onto the back of an ATV coming up next to them. "Official business," she grunted as she forcibly threw the man from the ATV and into the road behind her.

"What the hell are you up to now?" Eddy asked with a look of concern on his face.

"Well, I'm definitely _not_ enjoying this bumpy road and the engine vibrating between my legs, if that's what you're thinking," she answered sarcastically with a smile on her face.

"You're twisted. Seriously, if you're doing this, be careful. I'll cover you."

"Thanks, that makes me fell so much safer knowing that," she answered again with sarcasm before revving the engine and taking off ahead of him. She zipped through the forest at high speed, dodging gunfire and grenades with amazing success, and never once feeling afraid. Maybe it was because she had faced death so many times already, or maybe it was this overwhelming desire she felt to be something she wasn't- that being strong. No matter where this newfound surge of courage came from, she wasn't going to waste it; she was going to use it to do something right for once.

One ATV after the next blew up in a raging inferno as she approached the enemy jeep. The heat was almost too much for her to bare; even with the biting wind in her face, she was able to work up a sweat. As she got closer, she pulled out her handgun and began shooting at their tires but still couldn't land a shot.

 _Fuck, this is annoying. I almost actually want to shoot someone,_ she thought to herself. A sudden wave of anxiety washed over her as she realized they were driving on a stone bridge now, with nothing but water-and death- beneath them, cutting her moment of aggravation short. Her heart stopped when she saw the jeep drop off out of sight in front of her. She braced herself and let out a scream as she drove over the edge of the broken bridge and flew through the air for what seemed like forever. She landed violently, yet safely on the other side of the cliff. Her heart seemed to be beating out of her chest, but after the fear wore off, only anger remained. She took a deep breath and aimed carefully. She had the shot; she pulled the trigger.

Suddenly the jeep in front of her made a sharp left turn to avoid driving off a cliff. "Shit!" she yelled aloud. Unable to make the turn, Valerie ditched the ATV and sent it flying over the cliff. Her body slammed hard into the ground and continued to roll and skip for some feet. She let out a scream in all her panic as she desperately clawed at the ground, trying to gain some traction and keep from falling as she skidded across the ground. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she felt the ground disappear beneath her feet as she slid over the edge. She gripped the cliff as tightly as she could and began pulling herself up.

A jeep pulled along the edge, and the passenger door flew open, followed by a hand reaching out for her. She carefully reached up and took the hand, and Eddy quickly pulled her back to relative safety.

"So, how did it go?" he asked, a cocky grin on his face. Valerie glared at him, unamused. Out of anger and frustration, she could feel tears welling up inside her. The fact that she almost just died wasn't what bothered her. It was the fact that she screwed up yet again. Eddy could see she was struggling with her thoughts and quickly changed his tone. "It could have happened to anyone. At least you're not dead. Get ahold of yourself and focus," he said firmly before starting the engine and taking off again. Though she was still upset with herself, she had no reason to take it out on Eddy. She gave him a weak smile.

"You know you're going to have to stop saving me. I might feel obligated to give you the goods if you keep it up," she joked. There was an awkward and unbearably uncomfortable silence, and neither of them knew quite what to say to diffuse it with the least amount of awkwardness. "I was kidding, you know," she finally clarified.

"Of course," he answered quickly. "Could you imagine? That would be ridiculous," he said with a laugh. Valerie raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him. She didn't happen to think it was _that_ ridiculous.

"Well, actually-"

"Hold on- they're stopped." He interrupted her. She turned her attention from him to the road ahead, and sure enough, their jeep was now turned towards them, and they were stuck. The man was frantically trying to start the jeep as they pulled up and approached them on foot, Eddy laughing and hitting them with a condescending slow-clap as if to say "Nice try".

"Going somewhere?" he asked with a laugh. "Did you really think you could escape from moi?"

"Oh, no, I was just giving the lady the ten-dollar tour," Drake answered.

"Shut it!" Eddy commanded, clearly done with the quips and the games. "I bet you're working for them too. You thought you could set me up and keep everything for yourselves, hm?" he asked as he aimed his shotgun at them. They were just barely able to duck before he fired and blew away their windshield. Valerie quickly stepped up and put a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, what the hell's wrong with you? Do you even hear yourself? There's no way any of that can be true," she explained. "Relax. _Please_ ," she implored. He looked at her with anger clear all over his face, but his expression softened slightly when he saw her worried visage, and he seemed to be ready to cool off.

"Listen to her, Eddy. Take it easy, buddy," Nate said, still in cover. Eddy and Valerie exchanged a quick look before she backed away with both hands slightly raised, as if to say she was giving up. This man just seemed to bring out the worst in Eddy, and she didn't blame him.

"Well, you're out of luck now," Eddy started, ignoring everything that had just been said, "And out of road. Now, give me that map," he commanded, as he reloaded and aimed his shotgun at them as motivation.

"Alright, Eddy. You got me fair and square," Drake said as he began fumbling with something out of their sight.

"Hey! Don't move," Eddy warned him. Valerie kept a watchful eye on the situation, wary of any danger there might be.

"Relax. I'm just getting the map," Drake said calmly.

"Well, hand it over!" Eddy commanded again, become impatient.

"Well, now, you told me not to move! Looks like you're gonna have to come and get it," Drake answered. Valerie bit her lip, trying not to crack a smile.

 _If I'm half as annoying as this guy, I can't even blame Navarro for hating my guts,_ she thought to herself.

"Tai kamu," Eddy said under his breath, clearly having reservations about the whole situation. Valerie gave him a pat on the back.

"Don't worry. I'll go," she offered, and began approaching them. She could have sworn she heard the man mumble something to the woman, but she couldn't be sure what. "Don't try anything," she warned him, now right beside him. The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. The man threw the car into reverse, and slammed on the gas. "Hey!" Valerie yelled and grabbed onto the windshield frame out of impulse, as if her strength alone was enough to stop the jeep. The next thing she knew, she was falling with the jeep, headed for the water below.

Valerie let go of the jeep and braced for impact, taking a deep breath and shielding her face with her arms as best she could. The cold water took her breath away, and the impact left a sting that was sure to linger. Not only did the water leave its mark, but her arms were sure to be bruised from colliding with the hood of the jeep upon impact. Valerie felt a panic attack rapidly coming on as she tried to kick herself free from the undercurrent dragging her down deeper into the depths. She desperately kicked her legs and flailed her arms with all her might, but she was a weak swimmer, and the current was too strong for her. She was positive she was going to die.

Thankfully, the water wasn't too deep for her to make the swim back to the surface. When the jeep hit the ground below, she pushed off with her legs with all the force she could muster and swam for her life. She was almost halfway there when she couldn't hold her breath anymore and her vision started to go dark. Still, she continued to push, her lungs feeling like they were ready to burst, and her arm and leg muscles burning. Finally, she emerged from the water and immediately began gasping for air and coughing uncontrollably, still kicking and flailing her arms, desperate to make it to dry land. All the while, two of Eddy's men were shooting at them from the cliff above. Valerie winced in pain as a bullet grazed her arm. She grabbed onto the stone ledge and pulled herself up, continuing to roll herself until she was lying flat on her back. Another bullet flew by her face, thankfully missing. She struggled to sit up and pulled out her handgun.

"Idiots!" she grunted as she began firing aimlessly. Both men fell one after the other to their deaths, landing with loud splashes in the water below. She let out an exasperated sigh as she collapsed on her back again. "Is there anything more fitting than a watery grave for a pirate?" she pondered aloud, too exhausted to feel emotionally burdened by the fact that she just killed two men. She had only closed her eyes for a moment when she felt a presence over her. "Oh shit," she muttered, her eyes still closed. She then opened them, and sure enough, Drake was standing over her with a gun pointed at her head, and the woman right behind him with a gun pointed at her. "If you're not actually going to shoot me, could you get that thing out of my face? It's pretty rude," she said as she folded her hands behind her head and closed her eyes again. Not that she could have seen, but Drake and Elena exchanged confused looks.

"Who's side are you on?" Drake firmly inquired, still pointing his gun at her.

"No need to be dramatic. We're not in a movie," Valerie answered, ignoring his question.

"I'm serious," he stated firmly. "One minute you're shooting at us, then you're gunning down your own men. What's your deal?" he asked.

"Well, that would suggest I'm on _no one's_ side," she answered, becoming slightly agitated. She opened one eye and saw them both waiting expectantly. She sighed and sat up. "Look, if I wanted to kill you, I would've. I was never aiming to kill or even injure you. And as for those two losers, you said it yourself. If someone tries to kill you, you try to kill them right back. I don't care about…whatever it is that's going on here. I'm just an archeologist. I'm not even getting payed to work for these assholes. It was either work for them, or die." As she explained her side of the story, she began to feel more and more depressed. She hardly recognized herself anymore. "I don't want to die on this island. Everyone has a right to fight for their life," she said, quoting Eddy.

A light then went off in her mind. She remembered her plans with Eddy, and how happy she had been with herself then. She remembered feeling so adequate, and she remembered how Eddy never once doubted her abilities the way she always did. Valerie saw an opportunity to get out of the horrible situation she was in, but she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to betray Eddy like that. He had grown on her in their short time working together.

Realizing she had gotten lost in her thoughts, she looked up at the others to see if they were still paying attention to her. They had put their guns away- a definite good sign.

"Can we agree to a truce? I really just want to get off this island and home to my dogs," she said with nothing to lose. He held out a hand to help her up off the ground. Taking that as a "yes", she took his hand.

"I'll have my eye on you," he warned her. Valerie shrugged.

"So would I if I was into chicks," she answered with a smile.

"Oh, god, are you going to say things like that the entire time?" he asked her.

"You get used to it."

"Do you at least have an off switch?" he joked, as they now began walking together.

"Sure. Up my ass and to the left. Or is that the _on_ switch?" she answered sarcastically.

"Christ," he muttered to himself. "You got a name?"

"Valerie."

"Nate," he answered, "and that's Elena."

He suddenly stopped walking to look at his map, and both women stopped behind him. Valerie leaned against a stone wall and took a moment to look at the scenery. She quickly surmised that this city had been flooded centuries ago, and the historian inside her quickly became excited. She gently touched the wall closest to her, running her fingers along the cold, jagged, withered stone and imagining what it must have been like to live through the tragic events that brought down an entire civilization.

"It must have been horrifying," she said out loud, speaking to herself. "I wonder if they even saw it coming."

"What?" Elena asked her.

"Oh, just thinking out loud," Valerie said as she tousled her hair, a bit embarrassed. "The people that built this city and lived here. They must have been so scared. I wonder what happened to them. There could be hundreds, maybe thousands of corpses in the water." Valerie then sighed wistfully. "I would love to find one completely intact and bring it back to my university to examine. If I were more optimistic, I'd wish for one with some decomposing flesh still remaining, but that's just unrealistic."

"Wow, you're a real nerd for history, aren't you?" Elena asked with a smile.

"Well, I have a doctorate in archeology, and a masters in both anthropology and history, with an emphasis in ancient civilizations, so yeah, you could say that," Valerie answered with a laugh.

"Shh! Get down!" Nate suddenly said in a hushed but urgent tone. Both women immediately did as he said, and they soon realized why. They could clearly hear several male voices that obviously belonged to Eddy's pirates. They all knew without a doubt they were going to have to fight their way through this drowned city. Valerie reloaded her Wes-44 handgun and took a deep breath. She quickly wondered to herself how many men she would kill before the day was over. She wondered if she would survive the day, and she wondered when or if she would see Eddy again. Moreover, she wondered what she would do or say when they finally met again. A feeling of absolute dread overcame her when she thought about it.

 _Oh, the explaining I'll have to do. It'll be so fun,_ she thought to herself.

"You girls ready for this?" Nate asked them. They both nodded. "Okay. I'll go ahead and get rid of as many as I can without being seen. You cover me if I need you," he explained quickly and quietly. Both women again nodded. Without another word, Nate creeped around the corner and made his way toward the group of pirates on patrol. Valerie and Elena gave him a few seconds before they followed behind, always remaining out of site, keeping low to the ground.

Valerie's heart stopped when a sudden gunshot went off that echoed through the city and rang in her ears, followed by nonstop rapid gunfire.

"A little help here!" Nate yelled over the noise. Elena was quick to pop out from their cover, but Valerie hesitated. She took a few slow breaths and repeated the same phrase in her mind over and over before she joined Elena and began firing.

 _Everyone has the right to fight for their life._


	5. Chapter 5

The thunderous gunfire echoed through the air, leaving a faint ringing in Valerie's ears as ricochet bullets bounced off the walls in every direction and flew by uncomfortably close to her. Every once in a while there would be a brief pause, and Valerie would fire off a few shots, having no idea whether or not she actually landed any. When she ducked back behind her wall, she took a moment to look around and see where Elena and Nate were. Nate was some ten feet ahead of her caught in hand-to-hand combat with a man while Elena stayed equidistance away from him with Valerie, shooting whenever she had the chance. Valerie made the decision to slowly creep forward closer to Nate. Whether it was brave or stupid, she wasn't sure.

 _If I get closer, I'll be able to get a better shot,_ she thought to herself, now hiding behind a wall almost right next to Nate. He was still stuck in a fist fight with the same man. Valerie carefully took aim and fired a single shot. The bullet entered through the man's temple and exited clean on the other side. His lifeless body immediately collapsed at Nate's feet. Dodging gunfire still, Nate made his way over to Valerie to share her hiding spot.

"Please, God, tell me you were actually aiming for him," Nate said as he continued to shoot at the remaining few men.

"Of course," Valerie answered, a bit annoyed by the question. If she had wanted to kill either of them, she could have done it in the midst of all the chaos. Though, after a brief moment of thought, she couldn't blame them for not trusting her completely. Feeling more confident, Valerie started firing off more rounds and emptying clips, hiding under cover less and less. She began reloading an AK-47 when Nate held up a hand to stop her. Nothing could be heard except the sound of silence. The three of them walked out into the now quiet battlefield. Seeing so many corpses strewn about the ground brought Valerie back to the first time she had walked onto a scene like this- back at the crash site. Resisting the urge to vomit as best she could, she followed Nate and Elena through the city, cautiously stepping over the deceased.

Valerie suddenly stopped and began searching one of the nearby bodies, checking for ammo, grenades, or anything she could use.

"Um, what are you doing?" Elena asked, a bit concerned.

"I'm already going to Hell. I may as well trade up for this M4 and some grenades while I'm at it. You should stock up on ammo too. Oh! If you see a Wes-44, I call dibs," Valerie said.

"She's right," Nate defended her, and searched a few bodies himself. Valerie was honestly surprised.

"Thank you," she said to him with sincerity.

"Don't mention it," he answered before he stood up and began leading the way again. They made their way through the city unopposed for some time before coming to a river.

"Well that was fun," Valerie said sarcastically.

"Yeah-right," Nate answered in the same sarcastic tone.

"Nate, come check this out," Elena said, gesturing for him to look at her video camera.

"That thing still works?" he asked, amazed.

"Uh-huh. Look at this. See this building in the harbor? Ships would go there to load and unload their cargo. So, if the treasure is on this island, it would have had to have come through here!" She explained excitedly. Valerie stood on the tips of her toes to sneak a peek over Nate's shoulder.

"Wait a sec- there's a boat docked there. That's it- that's our ticket out of here! Let's get moving," Nate said, walking over to the wave racer conveniently waiting for them.

"What do you mean 'ticket out of here'? Are you giving up?" Elena demanded.

"In case you haven't noticed, we're a little outnumbered here," Nate argued. "I don't need your bullet-ridden corpse on my conscience. Now, let's go."

"Oh, please. You quit if you want to, but don't use me as your excuse."

"Fine, it's me, okay? I am afraid. I am giving up. Now, are you coming or not?" Nate shot back, obviously getting angry.

"So that's it? You're just going to forget about the treasure- forget about Drake?" Nathan let out an exasperated _huff._

"Goddamn it, this is not worth dying over," he said calmly yet firmly.

"Okay. Okay," Elena finally conceded. "Look, either way, we still have to go through that harbor," she explained, though Nate still seemed unconvinced. "Don't worry about it," Elena said, patting him on the shoulder. "We can argue about it later. It'll be great."

It was amazing. All Valerie needed was some popcorn. She couldn't believe how quickly they resolved things. It was like watching an old married couple. Honestly, as Valerie watched them argue back and forth, she saw a lot of herself and Eddy in the two of them. It was strange watching from the outside. She wondered if she really wasn't so different from these people.

"Oh no," Elena suddenly said. "We won't all fit on this thing," she explained. The three of them awkwardly stared at each other until Valerie finally spoke.

"It's fine. I understand. You have no reason to trust me. I'll find my own way from here," she said.

"Don't be crazy. You're coming with us," Nate said, shocking both women. "Besides, I don't trust you enough to let you out of my sight yet," he added. Valerie shrugged.

"That's fair enough. I appreciate you not ditching me or killing me," she said as she took a seat behind Elena on the wave racer, pulling herself as close as she could to leave Nate some room. Once Nate was seated as comfortably as possible, Elena took off up river.

"Any advice you can give us to help us get off this island in one piece?" Nate yelled above the whirring engine of the wave racer.

"Shoot to kill, with no second thoughts!" Valerie answered. "These guys are being payed top dollar, and they've probably already put a price on your head!"

"Gee, thanks. Anything else?" Valerie thought about it for a moment. She was about to answer but was abruptly cut short when a loud explosion went off just behind them, rubble and debris from the crumbling building tumbling into the river, threatening to capsize them. "What the hell was that!?" Nate yelled.

"We've got company, that's what! On the balcony, over there!" Valerie yelled, pointing the man out.

"Two can play this game," Nate said as he pulled out an M79 and fired a single shot at the man, sending his lifeless body soaring into the air before plummeting into the water below. Seemingly out of nowhere, gunfire erupted in the flooded city again. Elena quickly changed direction and got them safely out of range behind a brick wall. Even though they were out of range, gunfire could still be heard, and bullets could be seen flying past the wall they were hiding behind.

 _Idiots, wasting ammo like that,_ Valerie thought to herself, rolling her eyes.

"What now? There's too many of them to just speed through and not many places to hide by the looks of it," Elena said.

"What if I could provide some cover fire for you guys?" Valerie offered, stunning them. "I saw a sniper on a balcony across the way. If I climbed into this building through the window above us, I could probably get to him and take his rifle. I could clear the way for you guys no problem with a sniper rifle," she explained. Both Nate and Elena still seemed hesitant. Valerie let out an exasperated sigh. "Look, I want to do this. I want to prove you guys can really trust me," she paused for a moment as memories of her most awkward and embarrassing blunders flooded her mind. With the memories came her feelings of inadequacy. "It's not just that. You can laugh if you want, but I've got to prove that I can do something right too. Will you give me a boost up to the window?" Valerie asked Nathan, mustering the best puppy-dog eyes she could.

"Alright, fine. Just- don't look at me like that. Ever," he said. Valerie excitedly urged Nate to switch places with her so she could climb his back. She carefully climbed onto his shoulders and reached up for the open window but couldn't quite reach. She pushed off of his shoulders with just enough force to grab the window sill. She pulled herself up and into a completely dark room. Just when she was feeling confident, she heard movement in the adjacent room. In a panic, she began whipping her head around for a place to hide. There was a table near her. She quietly flipped it on its side and hid behind the table-top. She held her breath as the footsteps drew closer. She was frozen, experiencing an inner struggle with her fight-or-flight reflexes. She suddenly realized that the footsteps had stopped.

 _Shit! I stopped paying attention!_ She was so distracted by her own thoughts that she lost track of the footsteps and had no idea where the man was. Her heart dropped when she heard the creak of wooden floor boards directly behind her. She was then abruptly snatched up by her long hair. She gasped in pain but was cut short when the men wrapped a strong arm around her neck and began choking her. She struggled against him with all her might, kicking her legs and reaching up above her head, searching for his eyes with her hands, but she was losing her strength quickly. He began carrying her to the open window.

 _Huh. Strangle me until I lose consciousness and pass out, then drown me. Not a bad idea. I won't go that easily, though._

Valerie firmly planted her feet on either side of the window and pushed back as hard as she could, throwing the man off balance and causing both of them to fall to the floor. Valerie wasted no time getting up after being freed from his grasp, though she stumbled and fell to her knees again, weak and vision blurred from losing so much oxygen. The man was already up and coming towards her again. Her eyes narrowed, and a sudden surge of anger and adrenaline came over her. She lunged toward him and pulled out the knife holstered at her thigh in one swift motion.

 _Don't go in for the kill yet. He'll be expecting that,_ she told herself, finally able to think clearly. The man went to grab the knife from her, but she quickly ducked down and plunged the knife into his thigh. He screamed and reeled back in pain. _I'm not done yet!_ Valerie grabbed the man's face and pulled it down to her level, bringing her knee up in the same motion. She smashed her knee into his face, breaking his nose. The man stumbled back, his eyes welling up with involuntary tears. He unknowingly backed up to the open window, and he couldn't see Valerie coming. She gave him one solid kick in the chest that sent him over the edge and into the water below.

"Christ! What the hell?" she heard Nate shout from below. She poked her head out the window to see the man's body floating for a brief moment before sinking below the surface.

"Mati aja lo, bangsat," she muttered.

"You alright up there?" Nate asked, sincerely concerned.

"Never better," Valerie answered honestly. "I'll clear the way for you guys. Give me just a sec," she said before she disappeared again. She was overcome with an unusual mix of emotions that she couldn't explain: excitement, shame, confidence, disgust, happiness, residual fear from almost being killed yet again. She felt a solitary tear roll down her cheek, though she didn't remember crying, or even know why. Then she remembered the defining moment when her survival instincts and shear will to live took over for her, and how good it felt to be in control, to think with such clarity in the face of fear, to fight and win. Only one lingering thought was keeping her from enjoying the new-found confidence.

 _How many people am I going to have to kill today so that I can live?_

She shook it off and started making her way through the building until she found another exit- a balcony with a clear view of the sniper she was after, and a zip line conveniently connected her balcony and his. Valerie unbuckled the belt she was wearing on her shorts without a second thought. She looped it around the line, took a deep breath, and jumped. The breeze was exhilarating as she soared through the air. The sniper was completely oblivious to her, still waiting for Nate and Elena to show themselves again. It wasn't until it was too late that he saw her coming, and Valerie realized she didn't know how to stop. She awkwardly collided with the man and clumsily tumbled to the floor. Valerie quickly stood up, but the man was slow getting up in his moment of confusion, much to Valerie's benefit.

"I'll take that," she said as she said as she ripped the sniper away from him as he was still on his knees, trying to get up. Before he had the chance, Valerie kicked him in the face as if she were punting a football, knocking him out cold. Wasting no time, she took her position. Luckily enough for her, no one seemed to notice her at all, and Eddy's men were still needlessly firing off rounds at Nate and Elena. All she had to do was follow the bullet trails. One by one, Valerie took them out. To her horror, each kill became easier and easier. She kept telling herself it was necessary, but that still didn't make it any easier to live with it.

 _Nothing a few years of intense therapy can't fix,_ she thought to herself.

"Alright, you're good to go!" she called to Elena.

"What about you?" Elena asked.

"I'm sure more of Eddy's goons are waiting ahead out of my sight. I'll scale the rooftops and take care of it," she explained, and before either of them could argue with her, she was already climbing up to the roof. Again, she took a long, deep breath, gave herself room for a running start, and charged ahead at full speed, leaping to the next building. Though she was only in the air for a brief moment, it felt like she was moving through the air in slow motion, and her stomach was in knots. When she landed, she just kept going, not wanting to lose her momentum. After that first jump, she felt on top of the world. She was actually beginning to enjoy the sensation of her stomach dropping with each jump. She had to remind herself she was supposed to be doing something in order to make herself stop.

"There they are!" someone shouted in the distance as Elena and Nate mistakenly sped past Valerie's building and to the next. Ear-shattering gunfire once again erupted over the once calm waters. Valerie laid flat on the roof and took aim. She was just about to pull the trigger when there was a sudden explosion behind her. She looked up just in time to move out of the way of falling debris. Valerie frantically scanned the area for the person responsible.

"Up there! He's up there!" Elena yelled.

"I don't know what that means!" Valerie yelled back, annoyed. Then she saw him; there was a man a few hundred yards ahead of her, standing on an old aqueduct, loading an RPG. "Gotcha," Valerie said to herself as she took aim and pulled the trigger. His body immediately went limp and fell into the river, his limbs flailing like a rag doll. After that, taking out the other pirates was too easy.

"Go, go, go!" Valerie commanded, and Elena gunned it and took off towards a huge iron gate in the distance, Valerie following behind via rooftop parkour.

"Do you think you can shoot those counterweights down?" Nate called up to Valerie.

"Sure thing," Valerie answered, switching to her handgun, not wanting to waste her sniper. She carefully climbed down from the roof and onto the iron gate. While holding on with one hand, she used the other hand to fire shots at the counterweights holding the gate up. The gate immediately began to sink, and Valerie took a free ride until she was low enough to safely jump into the water. Elena pulled up next to her as she resurfaced, and Nate helped her back up onto the wave racer.

"Thanks," Valerie said.

"No, thank _you._ That was kind of amazing," Nate said sincerely. Valerie shrugged.

"It was nothing," she said nonchalantly, though she was bursting with excitement inside. She only wished she could have been this useful when Eddy needed her to be. Elena leisurely drove the wave racer through the gate, believing the worst to be behind them. However, as soon as they crossed through the gate, guns started going off all around them, and she abruptly hit the gas, almost causing Nate to fall off behind them.

"Shit, what now!?" Valerie shouted, finally out of ideas.

"I see our way out straight ahead! I'm gonna gun it! You two just do the best you can at taking them out!" Elena answered. Both Valerie and Nate pulled out their hand guns and began randomly shooting, Valerie taking the left and Nate taking the right, hoping that their shots would miraculously hit their marks. "Hang on!" Elena shouted to them, but there was little time to brace themselves before they went flying over a ramp, landing on the other side and out of their sight.

After recovering from the initial shock, Valerie then excitedly exclaimed, "Hey! There it is! We made it!"

"Yeah, now we just gotta find a way in," Nate added.

"Y'know, I read a story once about a cursed Inca treasure. You don't suppose that-"

"Please tell me you don't believe in that stuff," Nate interrupted Elena.

"I'm just saying. Something bad happened here. A whole colony doesn't just up and vanish," Elena defended herself.

"Yeah," Nate said sarcastically with a laugh.

"Well, how do you explain it?" she demanded, which he ignored.

"Well, there's always some truth to every myth," Valerie offered. "For instance, El Dorado was believed to be an entire city of gold. That was the myth. The truth is that we're now searching for a golden statue that the myth actually refers to, right? Who knows what the truth behind the mystery is?" She was trying to make Elena feel better, but even Valerie was having trouble taking the idea seriously. Elena slowly pulled the wave racer to a stop, and Nate got off first so he could give each woman a hand and help them off. The three of them walked slowly up to the entrance of an old building, desperately needing a small break from all the violence. Nate tried to open the door, but of course it had to be locked from the inside. He looked around for another way in and noticed a tower in the distance. There was a wire connecting the tower to a window on what looked like the second story of the building they needed to get into.

"Looks like that's our way in. C'mon, let's go," Nate said, breaking into a light jog.

"I'll stay here with Valerie and keep an eye on our ride. You can let us in once you get inside," Elena said.

"Alright. You girls hang tight and stay safe," Nate said before taking off for the tower. Both Elena and Valerie leaned against the wall on either side of the door and stood in awkward silence for a moment.

"So," Elena said to finally break the silence, "you can speak Indonesian, huh?" she asked. Valerie smiled and gave a small laugh.

"Oh, no. Only the fun words, and by 'fun' I mean 'naughty'. Eddy taught me a few words and phrases," she explained.

"So what's the deal with the two of you?" Elena asked, catching Valerie a bit off guard.

"What do you mean by that?" Valerie asked.

"Well, you two seemed pretty close back there, but you don't seem to be at all concerned about getting back to him."

"I just want to get off this island," Valerie said truthfully, though her tone was a bit too somber for Elena to fully believe her. "I was never supposed to be involved in this mess. Like I told you guys, working with them was my only real choice. It hasn't been all bad, but I'm in way over my head here."

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Valerie began nervously braiding a few strands of her hair as she spoke, avoiding eye contact with Elena.

"It's not like I didn't get any good out of all of this, I guess," she murmured softly. "Eddy was the only person on the island I could stand to be around, the only person I really trusted. I guess we've built somewhat of a friendship. He never doubted me, even when I doubted myself. I've never felt so confident in myself. I'll always have to live with the regret and guilt of the things I've done on this island, but I guess I'll miss the person I've become here. I'm afraid of going back to being the loser I always was back home, and maybe I'll even miss my friendship with Eddy, if only a little" she explained. Elena put a soft hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe you became the person you were always meant to be," Elena said with a smile. Valerie feigned a smile. That wasn't entirely reassuring since the person she'd become was a murderer, but she knew Elena meant well.

"Thank you. I want to apologize for Eddy. He's not always like that. Nate just seems to really bring out the worst in him for some reason. Apparently they have a history together," Valerie explained. Valerie couldn't help but smile as she remembered just how much she enjoyed Eddy's company. "Eddy's actually got a few redeeming qualities, as I'm sure Nate does. Your 'relationship' with Nate actually reminds me a lot of Eddy and myself. Just like you and Nate, it was kind of like 'Us against the world'. I never once cared about the treasure. I'm just the nerd studying fossils. But Eddy and I were going to take it for ourselves and share it equally as partners. He really saw me as his equal for some reason; I always thought that was pretty respectable."

"Geez, you talk about the guy like you're in love with him," Elena teased.

"Please," Valerie said, giving her a playful push. "You and Nate argue like an old married couple," she taunted back. Both women laughed together, a refreshing change from all the violence.

"Still," Valerie began, "even if we were romantically involved, that would be the most stupid, irresponsible thing I could do. Realistically, I don't imagine we'd even keep touch. The chances of our plan even being a success were slim to none. It was just a crazy dream. This is for the best," she explained with more conviction than before. Elena was just about to respond when Nate suddenly whizzed by above their heads on a zip line. He entered through a second story window, and they heard him land with a loud _thud_ on the other side of the door.

"Hey, Nate! Let us in!" Elena called to him.

"Stand back!" he yelled. Both women backed away just before Nate kicked the door in. "Alright. Let's see if we can find a way to the harbor and steal a boat," he said, wasting no time getting back to business. Both women nodded a followed behind him, though Valerie trailed a bit further behind, a bit distracted by her own thoughts. She knew she wanted to go home; there was no question about it. There was a lingering fear in her mind that she would have to face Eddy again before this was over, and she had no idea what she would say to him, or if he would even listen or understand. She had betrayed him and killed his men, and that's how he would see it. Valerie only hoped she could somehow persuade him not to kill her if they ever crossed paths again. She hoped that after everything, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it. After all, there was a point in time, however brief, that it was them against the world. In Valerie's mind, that had to count for something. It certainly meant something to her.


	6. Chapter 6

"Whoa," Valerie breathed as she followed Nate and Elena into a dimly lit room filled with leather bound books and loose-leaf papers strewn all over the place. On a nearby table was an open journal that piqued her interest. "This looks like an old manifest," she exclaimed upon further inspection. Nate excitedly took the journal from her and began reading it on his own. "Hey, I was reading that! Don't be so grabby. I would've given it to you," she said to him as she gave him a gentle slap on the shoulder.

"Sorry," he apologized half-heartedly as he was too wrapped up in what he was reading to honestly care. "Look at this. 'Solid gold statue. Weight: 20 arrobas'. This has to be it! It was here!"

"You still wanna go home?" Elena asked.

"Nice try. We're still going for that boat. I'm afraid this is as close to El Dorado as we're going to get," he said as he held the journal up for Elena to film on her camera.

"I had to try," she said with a smile. "C'mon. We'd better keep moving if we wanna catch that boat," she added. Nate quickly followed Elena out of the room and up a flight of stairs while Valerie lingered behind. She ran her fingers along the pages of the open journal, contemplating what she was about to do. She then tore the sketch of El Dorado out and folded it before stuffing it into her back pocket.

 _A little souvenir if I make it out of this alive,_ she thought to herself as she rushed to catch up with Nate and Elena and was greeted with loud gunfire. _Man, this is getting old fast,_ she thought to herself, rolling her eyes internally as she stepped through an open doorway and took cover behind a wooden crate on the other side of the wall.

"Glad you could join us!" Nate called to her sarcastically.

"Yeah, like I would let you two have all the fun," Valerie responded.

"Hey, heads up!" Elena called to her, and Valerie looked up just in time to see a man fall from a balcony above her.

"Hey, thanks!" Valerie shouted, giving Elena an appreciative thumbs-up before grabbing the nearby shotgun the man had dropped. Staying low to the ground as she moved, she made her way across the room, getting within range of each target before blowing them away with her shotgun. "Man I love these things," she said aloud with a huge grin. "Who needs skill and precision when you can just bum-rush your enemies and blow them to pieces?"

"Yeah, they're also good for compensating for _other_ things too," Elena said sarcastically, and both women shared a laugh.

"If you two are done being immature, we have a boat to catch," Nate said, leaving them behind as he rushed up another flight of stairs and through an open iron gate. Valerie and Elena both hurried to catch up and met him on an outdoor stone balcony that overlooked the island. In the distance, nothing but daunting gray clouds could be seen looming over the mountainous terrain. Below them were nothing but jagged rocks and certain death. "Look, there's our boat on the other side of the harbor," Nate said, pointing off in the distance to the right of them. "Let's get going."

"Hang on. Why don't you go and swing back around to pick me up? I wanna get some more footage for my show," Elena suggested.

"What are you up to?" Nate asked, clearly skeptical of her intentions.

"What?" Elena asked with a laugh. "I promise, I'll be right here when you get back," she said, raising her right hand.

"Whatever that means. Looks like it's just me and you," Nate said, turning to Valerie. She quickly nodded, now more eager than ever to get off the island. The end was nearly in sight, and she was more than ready to put everything that had happened on that island behind her.

"Let's do this," she said firmly, taking out her shotgun and blasting the lock off the iron door blocking their path. "After you," she said with a smile.

"Be safe," he urged Elena before running ahead of Valerie. She followed behind and nearly ran into him when he stopped short.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"We've got some jumps to make. Will you be able to make them?" he asked. There were a handful of balconies ahead separated by gaps at least five feet in length, with a drop that would surely kill them if they fell.

"I think so. It'll be just like scaling those rooftops, right?" she asked, her voice a bit shaky and uncertain. Nate took a few steps back to get a running start before leaping to the next balcony.

"Here, I'll catch you if you need me to," he called to her, holding out his hand. Valerie nodded and took a few steps back before charging ahead and making the jump. Her stomach dropped and her heart stopped as she flew through the air in what felt like slow motion, and she let out a sigh of relief when her feet landed firmly on the ground again. Nate smiled. "Well, alright then. Let's keep moving," he said before jumping ahead to the next balcony. Feeling confident, Valerie smiled and jumped without worry. That confidence, however, was extremely short lived as the next balcony crumbled and began to collapse beneath her upon impact. Valerie let out a loud and panicked yelp as she felt the ground falling beneath her. Nate, already ahead of her on the next balcony held out his hand. "You have to jump! I'll catch you!"

Valerie, thrown off balance, stumbled forward awkwardly until she had no more room to work with and pushed off with all her strength, both her arms outreached, desperately hoping it was enough. Nate dropped to his knees and reached as far as he could, and Valerie firmly grabbed onto him with both hands.

"I've got you. Just hang on," he grunted as he pulled her up to safety. Valerie rolled onto her back and remained there motionless while panting wildly for air. "You feel okay? Is your adrenaline rushing?" Nate asked with a small laugh. Valerie let out a breathy, nervous laugh.

"Yeah. That wasn't so bad. Just really eye opening," she joked as she patted her stomach. Nate laughed and helped her up off the ground.

"Oh, c'mon. These buildings are centuries old. I probably loosened it up for you. C'mon, Elena's waiting for us," he said as he led the way through another door and down a stair case into a huge circular room with small golden pillars all over the place, some still standing and others knocked on their sides.

"Oh god," Valerie groaned, suddenly feeling uneasy.

"What's wrong?" Nate asked her.

"This room looks like it was built specifically for a gunfight," she griped, already reaching for her handgun.

"They're here!" someone yelled, and just as she had expected, the room erupted with deafening gunfire. Nate and Valerie quickly dove for cover, but they were completely surrounded and would soon be flanked. Someone was firing a mounted machine gun from atop a stair case at the other end of the room, pinning them down.

"We've got to take that asshole out!" Valerie shouted. Nate nodded in agreement and launched a grenade across the room, landing it perfectly beside the machine gun. The explosion sent the man comically flying into the air.

"Alright, do you want to cover me, or do you want to man the machine gun?" Nate shouted above the ear-piercing gunfire, though Valerie was already making her move, ducking for cover every few feet, weaving her way through the room without being seen as best as she could, though she did end up being grazed by a few bullets, luckily only leaving scratches. She climbed the stair case and mounted the machine gun, hesitating briefly before firing as she marveled at the power she held at her fingertips. She began firing and never let her finger off the trigger, swiveling it back and forth, making slow sweeping motions across the room.

"Nate, stay out of my way! I can't control this thing!" she shouted as loud as she could, though she doubted he could hear her; she could hardly hear herself. When she finally stopped firing, the room was eerily silent, save for the faint ringing in Valerie's ears. She gazed at the scene below her, at all the lifeless bodies she had created in mere seconds, and she began to feel queasy as the strong scent of iron assaulted her nose. She began to feel weak in the knees just as Nate climbed the stair case to join her.

"Hey, you alright? You look a little pale," he said as he firmly grabbed her shoulders.

"Oh, you know, just overwhelmed by crippling guilt. But I'll get over it eventually- after years of therapy probably," she answered with complete apathy. "C'mon. We have to keep going. We're almost out of the woods," she said as she pushed ahead, Nate following behind her through an open doorway and down a few flights of stairs, until they finally reached the boat, though there were a few pirates loading it with crates of ammunition when they arrived.

"Ssh, get down," Nate whispered and quickly grabbed Valerie by the wrist and tugged on her arm, pulling her down and crouching behind a low-rising wall.

"Hey," Elena said from behind them, startling them both.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Nate asked quietly.

"Never mind that. You have to see this," she said urgently, thrusting her camera at him.

"Can this wait?" Nate asked, agitated. As they argued back and forth, Valerie kept an eye on the pirates as they finished loading the boat, becoming more restless as she saw their window of opportunity growing smaller and smaller with every second they wasted arguing. Valerie rested a hand on her gun, preparing to make her move, when Nate grabbed her wrist and stopped her. Her blood began to boil as she watched the boat speed away, along with her only chance to go home. She ripped her hand away from Nate and demanded in frustration,

" _What!?_ What was so important that it couldn't wait five seconds?" Nate was pointing at the screen on Elena's camera, more specifically at an old man on the screen. "What?" Valerie huffed. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"You're telling me you've never seen this man, and that you don't know who he is?" Nate asked her sternly.

"Yes," Valerie answered shortly, uninterested in entertaining such a stupid question.

"Earlier, when I was locked in my cell, you said you had one of my friends as a hostage. I thought you meant Elena, and you said I was wrong," he explained slowly and calmly, clearly trying to keep his cool, and clearly implying that Valerie wasn't as innocent as she claimed. Valerie recalled the conversation he was talking about. She did remember saying it, but she had never met the man. Her eyes suddenly widened when realization struck her.

"Oh, God, Nate, I'm so sorry," she began. "I had heard something about Roman having an 'indentured servant' on the island- that's how he put it anyway. When I said we had a friend of yours, I was only guessing," she explained.

"Christ," Nate said with disdain, struggling to believe her.

"What now, Nate?" Elena asked.

"Well, we missed our boat. We may as well save your friend while we're stuck here," Valerie chimed in, trying to lighten the mood. Nate however, was in no mood.

"You alright, Nate?" Elena asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know it looks shady, but do you really think he's working with them?"

"I don't know who or what to believe. But, you're right, Valerie. We're either going to save him, or beat the crap out of him. Hell, I might just do both," Nate said. He got up from the ground and left without another word, walking through an open walkway. Elena and Valerie both stared at each other awkwardly, and Valerie began to feel increasingly uncomfortable in her precarious position.

 _As if they weren't having a hard enough time trusting me already, now this shit happens,_ she thought to herself.

Elena opened her mouth to say something when they heard gunshots coming from Nate's location. Both women ran after him, but when they arrived, Nate was the only one standing, four other men now lying lifeless on the ground. There in that moment Valerie remembered exactly who she was dealing with; she recalled their men's desperate pleas for help over the walkie talkie on that very same morning, and hearing a man's life cut short mid-sentence. She remembered walking onto the scene of the fight, the air heavy with the stench of blood, the _squish_ her shoes made with every step she took on the blood-soaked grass. For the first time since that moment, she actually feared Nate.

"C'mon. They left a wave-racer for us," Nate said as he hopped in the driver's seat. Elena got on behind him, and Valerie followed after. "Those men were headed up-river. That's where we'll find Sully," he explained as he hit the gas and headed north against the strong currents towards the monastery. "Hang on," he warned them. Aside from being knocked against giant rocks in every direction as Nate struggled to fight being swept away by the current, going up river seemed to be the easiest part of their journey so far. Then, something floated by them that caught Valerie's eye.

"Did you guys just see that?" she asked.

"Yeah. Are those barrels?" Elena asked, pointing ahead of them. Several red barrels were floating down the river towards them.

"Oh, shit," Valerie exclaimed, her eyes wide and voice full of dread. "Nate, whatever you do, don't hit those barrels," she warned him urgently as she pulled out her handgun and took aim at one of the many barrels floating towards them. She fired one shot and landed a direct hit with one of the red barrels, which then ignited the gasoline inside, causing an explosion. Water was launched into the air as if from a geyser, then rained back down on them, coating them in a thin, cool layer of mist. "Whose fucking bright idea was it to send these things down river with their own men still in these waters!?" Valerie asked rhetorically in complete bafflement. The idiocy was too much even for Eddy's pirates, or so Valerie thought.

"What's the plan?" Elena asked.

"We keep moving forward. You two try to ignite those barrels before they get anywhere near us," Nate commanded without a second though. Both women nodded and began shooting the barrels one by one. Valerie couldn't help but smile, and even laugh as they managed yet again to decimate any chances the enemy had of killing them, overcoming every obstacle they had ever thrown their way. It was then that she noticed out of the corner of her eye a bullet fly past them coming from up ahead, followed by an RPG.

"Oh, come on, you've gotta be fucking kidding me with this!" Valerie complained as Nate took cover behind a boulder, struggling to keep the wave racer in one place against the current. "Well, we can't stay pinned down like this. Elena, do you think you can take these guys out while I focus on the barrels?" Valerie asked as she reloaded her gun.

"Yeah, I think so," Elena answered. Though she seemed unsure, they all knew it was the only real choice they had. To sit idle in the same spot was suicide.

"You guys ready?" Nate asked.

"Ready!" both women chimed in unison. Nate nodded and circled around the rock they were hiding behind, speeding forward against the tumultuous current, dodging bullets and explosive barrels as best as he could. They were going up a steep slope in the river, unable to see what was coming their way for a split second, and that was all in took. A lone barrel in their blind spot collided with them. if they had been traveling at full speed, the impact would have been completely fatal. Miraculously, Valerie was the only one thrown violently from the wave racer and swept away by the currents. Valerie fought to keep her head above the water, but she was too weak of a swimmer as it was, and the current was too powerful.

"Valerie!" Elena held out her hand but to no avail. Valerie was already gone. "Nate, turn around! We have to go back for her!" Elena begged him. Instead, he continued to push forward. However, as Nate looked at Elena, the guilt and remorse for what he was about to do was plain to see. The gunfire continued relentlessly, and the barrels continued to float their way.

"I'm sorry. We have to keep going," Nate said, and sped ahead towards the monastery, leaving Valerie behind. The current thrashed her in all directions, dragging her below the surface over and over again. Each time she resurfaced she took quick, deep breaths trying desperately to stay alive, though more often than not she just choked on water when she was able to come up for air. Finally, she was able to grab onto a small foothold in a rock, and she used all the strength she could muster to pull herself up out of the water. She coughed and choked uncontrollably, causing her to vomit. When she was able to regain control, she laid on her back, her eyes closed, taking slow, deep, raspy breaths. Her lungs burned due to all the water she must have inhaled, and she had a splitting head ache that she couldn't explain, that is, until she put a hand to her temple and quickly pulled it away, leaving behind a slight stinging sensation on her temple. There was blood on her fingers. Slowly, Valerie rolled over onto her stomach and gazed at her reflection in the water below her. Sure enough, there was a gash on the left side of her head and a small cut by her left eye. There was a trail of deep, crimson red blood running down the left side of her face. She then rolled over onto her back again and stared blankly up at the sky.

"I don't think things could possibly be any worse for me," she said aloud. By chance, she happened to look to her side in time to see a lifeless body floating down river that Elena must have shot down some ways ahead. Valerie scrambled to get up in time, resting on her knees and reaching out as far as she could until she was able to grab onto his arm. She pulled him up out of the water just enough so that she could steal the bandana he was wearing on his head. "You don't mind, do you? I think I need this a little more than you do," she said before dropping him and watching him float down the river and out of sight. "Oh, my God, I'm going insane," she said to herself as she wrapped the bandana tightly around her forehead and over her wound to stop the bleeding. She then laid back staring up at the sky, contemplating her next move, or if she even had a next move when her vision started to fade in and out of clarity, like a camera lens going in and out of focus.

"No!" she chastised herself. "Do _not_ close your eyes. Do _not_ fall asleep," she said firmly out loud, but it was no use. Her vision slowly began to go black. "Oh, you stupid bitch. You're falling asleep," she sighed before fading out completely against her will. Everything was black, there was no time or space, only Valerie's faint consciousness drifting aimlessly through the void. Amazingly, her mind kept going back to Eddy.

 _Huh. That's interesting. I wonder why that is._

She remembered the plans they had made together to find the treasure and split it equally, and how truly excited she had been there in that moment. She remembered the way she and Eddy could banter back and forth, and the way they bonded over their mutual hatred for Navarro. She found herself actually missing it.

 _What is wrong with me? I'm losing it. I'm actually starting to hear his voice in my head_.

Valerie's eyes flew open when the loud static of a walkie-talkie startled her awake. Her vision was still somewhat blurry, but she could hear everything going on around her.

"She's out cold, boss. She mumbles in her sleep every so often, but that's it," a man said. Valerie kept closing and opening her eyes, hoping that eventually her vision would clear up. She could tell that she was on a boat, though it wasn't in motion, and there was one man in the driver's position, and no one else.

"Bring her to the monastery," Eddy's voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"You got it, boss. What should I do if she wakes up?" the man asked, sounding a bit nervous. Whether he was afraid to ask Eddy stupid questions, or afraid of Valerie waking up, she couldn't tell. She assumed it was a little of both.

"Figure it out. Just bring her here alive and in one piece. Those are Navarro's orders," Eddy answered. Valerie felt her heart shattering, and a single tear rolled from the outer corner of her eye. Not that she could blame him, but it still hurt- to be betrayed to the person she hated most by the person she trusted most. If there were ever a question of where she and Eddy stood, there was no mystery now. Valerie very slowly and quietly got up and creeped forward, grabbing her handgun.

 _Idiot. Should've taken my gun while I was knocked out._

"Yeah, boss, I know. I-it's just that if she struggles, what do I do? All I'm sayin' is, I won't just let this bitch kill me so Navarro can have his weird revenge. He-" the man was cut short when Valerie struck him as hard as she could in the back of the head with the butt of her gun. He hit the floor with a loud thud and rocked the boat a bit.

"Tuco? Tuco, come in," Eddy said into his walkie-talkie. Valerie took the walkie-talkie in her hand and took a deep breath before she spoke.

"Yeah, I don't think you'll be hearing from Tuco any time soon," Valerie said as she fired one shot into the back of his head, making sure Eddy could hear it. "And you can tell that pussy that if he wants me, he can come and fucking get me," she said before chucking the walkie-talkie as far as she could out of frustration and anger. She paced back and forth frantically, with no clue what she was going to do next. She had no real plan; the anger was all she could think about. The anger of being left behind to die, the anger of being betrayed by the one person she actually trusted, and the anger of now being alone in a living hell with no way out in sight.

"Fuck it," she finally said aloud, a sentiment always expressed before the absolute _best_ decisions are made. She stepped out of the boat and headed into the misty jungle ahead of her towards the monastery.


	7. Chapter 7

"God, this place is giving me the creeps. What the hell was I thinking?" Valerie said aloud as she wandered through the dense forest, her hands hugged tightly around her arms to keep warm, constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed or watched. She became increasingly uncomfortable as she walked; the sun was blocked out by the clouds, and a thin layer of fog had rolled in, making it difficult to see. If anyone was coming to do her harm, she wouldn't be able to see in time, so she decided it was best to be on high-alert, even if she was just being paranoid. "It's way too quiet," she said quietly to herself, looking down at the ground now as she walked, lost in thought. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." In her peripheral vision, she saw something a bit out of place- a flash of red among the dreary gray hue of the forest shrouded in fog. Curious, she looked up and immediately regretted it. She let out a horrified scream and stumbled back, tripping and falling to the ground.

She clasped one hand over her mouth, fighting the urge to vomit as she stared in horror at the sight before her. A man was suspended above ground before her, caught in some sort of death trap fashioned from wooden spikes. He must have tripped a wire and immediately been impaled. It was clear he had been there like that for some time already; flies were circling him, nearby crows were perched waiting for Valerie to leave so they could feast, and he reeked of death. Valerie pinched her nose shut tightly and breathed through her mouth as quietly as she could. Her attention then turned to what had initially caused her to look up; one of the spikes appeared to be made from the plane that had crashed earlier that day.

 _That's bizarre,_ she thought to herself. _No one else could have set that trap other than Navarro's mercenaries or Eddy's pirates, but why?_ She leaned forward onto her knees to get up off the ground, and as she did, her gaze dropped to the ground, noticing a strange footprint in the mud. Valerie stared at it intently as she tried to explain it rationally in her head, but she knew it couldn't be human, and there was no animal on Earth she could think of that could leave a print like that. It was long on narrow, with only two "toes." Valerie quickly pushed herself up off the ground and looked all around her, listening intently for any kind of movement. The feeling that she was being watched creeped back into her mind. Not wanting to stay there any longer, she briskly walked forward without looking back. She cringed as she heard the frantic flapping and squawking of the crows behind her as they feasted on the dead man.

The monastery was silent when she arrived. Valerie kept a strong face as she stepped over the myriad dead bodies, refusing to look directly at them, only looking ahead. Partly because she knew she would become sick again, but mostly because she feared that one of the bodies could belong to Nate or Elena. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away.

"Don't be stupid," she told herself. "If it had been you, you would have done the same thing. It was nothing personal. Everyone has the right to fight to survive." Still, her deep-seeded insecurity kept telling her that if it had been Elena that had fallen, Nate would have gone back for her in a heartbeat. Whether it was actually true or not, it didn't matter; it's what Valerie believed to be the truth, and it hurt. Suddenly, her heart jumped as she felt the sensation of falling. Valerie had tripped over one of the bodies, falling to the ground with a loud _thud_ and scraping her elbow. "I'm sorry," she said quietly with complete sincerity. "I guess I should pay more attention," she added as she picked herself up and continued through an open iron gate into a wide, open courtyard. She immediately noticed the bodies lying all over the place, and she took that as a good sign that Nate and Elena were still alive. After letting out a sigh of relief, she took a look around and wondered in which direction she should go. She looked for any signs that might indicate which direction Nate and Elena went, but couldn't find anything. "What a drag. How stupid can I be for letting my anger get the best of me? If I had held onto that walkie-talkie, I might at least know if my friends are even still alive," she complained. She decided to try the building to her right and work her way in a circle if that didn't take her anywhere. When the doors didn't open for her, she made her way around the side of the building and climbed through an open window into a deserted library. Valerie couldn't help but smile when she saw the open "hidden" passage at the other end of the room.

"I thought this stuff only happened in movies," she exclaimed excitedly. "Then again, this whole experience has been like something out of an action movie," she said with a laugh as she stepped through the doorway and descended a small flight of stairs into yet another library with yet another open passage. She peered into the darkness before her, feeling a bit uneasy at the idea of going even deeper underground. The idea of being buried alive in a cave-in didn't seem appealing to her. She then let out an exasperated sigh and delved deeper into the catacombs. "I've come this far. It would be stupid to turn back now." As she walked through the catacombs, her mind began to wander. She was actually becoming bored, having not run into any trouble since she had been separated from Nate and Elena. She actually wished she'd run into someone, _anyone._ Valerie climbed a flight of stairs and pushed open a heavy door over her head, leading her into what looked like a cathedral. The massive room was lined with rows of pews, and at the far end of the room, there was an altar surrounded by lit candles.

"Well, that's a little creepy," she said out loud, imagining some sort of sacrificial ritual taking place at the altar. She took note of all the dead bodies in the room. "Well, at least I know they made it this far. Either that, or this was some kind of cult mass suicide," she thought out loud. As she continued to walk through the cathedral, she noticed two bells on either side of the altar, and behind one, was another passageway. Valerie took one look inside and rolled her eyes. "Man, I am getting so tired of these secret doors and catacombs," she grumbled as she once again ventured into the dark underground. "I should've just left with that boat. For all I know, Nate and Elena are already gone or dead, and-" Valerie's heart suddenly stopped when she heard voices echoing in the distance. She looked around frantically, unable to pinpoint where they were coming from. She noticed dim light coming from a room in the distance. Walking slowly, she approached the open doorway, taking cover on her side before peeking around the corner.

"This is completely unacceptable," Roman said with disappointment.

"Well what do you expect from me, Roman? My men are getting massacred!" Eddy argued. Valerie's heart skipped a beat when she heard him speak, and she quickly brought her hand to her mouth to muffle her excited gasp.

"I find it hard to believe that one man could wipe out your entire crew."

"Ugh," Eddy let out a frustrated sigh, "It's not just Drake, God damn it! I'm telling you, this island is cursed!"

"Enough! Now, take your sorry mob and go," Roman dismissed him.

"Wait..you can't cut me loose. You owe me a share of the gold!" Eddy argued. Valerie could hear the anger growing in his voice. His temper was about to reach its peak.

"Your share, Eddy, was contingent upon you doing what I required. You assured me that Drake was captured, and the island secure."

"Oh, this is bullshit, Roman, and you know it!" Eddy yelled. There was a brief moment of silence, and Valerie held her breath in suspense, praying that Eddy wasn't about to get himself killed.

"We're done here, Mr. Raja," Roman finally said. Valerie was so overcome with relief she could have almost cried. There was another brief silence before Eddy spoke again.

"Tai kamu!" he swore, and Valerie heard him spit, and she hoped that he managed to spit in either Roman or Navarro's face. "Mati aja lo," he grumbled, his voice becoming faint as Valerie figured he was leaving the room. "Sialan!" he yelled, before completely getting out of earshot.

 _I'm sorry,_ she thought to herself. _I never meant to cause you so much trouble. You should have just let me die in that dark cell. I'm probably going to die on this island, anyway._ Valerie fought her tears as she let herself believe that anything could have changed for him if they had never met. Even if she could convince herself that it _wasn't_ true, she'd only become more depressed that her being there had absolutely no effect on anyone's lives. She took a deep breath and suppressed all her thoughts and emotions before forging ahead. She walked down a long corridor into a huge room with several coffins lining the walls, and even more coffins arranged in neat rows on the ground before her.

"Must be a family burial or something," she thought out loud. There was a long stair case in the room that led to what looked like another trap door. "I swear to God, if I went in a circle, I'm gonna kill somebody," she said as she climbed the staircase. The door was soft to the touch from absorbing moisture over the centuries, and little pieces flaked away with the slightest touch of Valerie's hand. "I could probably push right through this." She pushed up against the door with both hands, and could feel it giving on the other side. The more she pushed, the more the door fell apart, revealing what looked like a thin layer of rich, moist soil on top of it. She pressed her hand lightly against the soil and felt it give way. Determined to break through, she balled her hand into a fist, and launched her arm upward with all her strength. She felt a cool breeze on her hand from the surface above, and she could hear some sort of commotion above her. She pushed her other hand through and dug away at the soil above her until she dug a hole big enough for her the climb through. She winced as she was greeted with natural light for the first time in what seemed like years, and she could now clearly hear the frantic screams of Eddy's men.

"It's true! They're coming back from the dead!"

"Run!"

"Get out of my way!" They continued to scream nonsense as Valerie pulled herself out from under the ground. When she took a look around and realized that she was in a mausoleum, she couldn't help but burst into laughter, assuming that all of Eddy's men had evacuated by now.

"Oh, my God, they must be shitting their pants right about now! Why are all of Eddy's men such idiots?" Valerie laughed until her sides hurt. Suddenly, she heard the sound of gunfire in the distance, and she quickly ducked behind a nearby tombstone and pulled out her assault rifle in one swift motion. "Damn, I guess they're not all idiots. Oh well. I've been itching for some action." She took a peek over the tombstone, but she couldn't see anyone through the fog; she could only see bullets cutting through it in her direction. She then noticed what looked like a laser pointer making a sweeping motion across the grave yard. It was a sniper scanning the area, looking for Valerie. She smiled to herself.

 _You can't see me, but I can see you._ Valerie stayed low as she made her way through the graveyard, making sure not to make a sound. The gunfire continued relentlessly, and Valerie winced in pain as she felt the sting of a ricochet bullet in her side. She could hear rushed footsteps passing her by, hurrying towards her last known location, but the sniper remained idle in one spot. _Tch. Fucking camper. This is what happens when you camp_ , she thought to herself as she approached, preparing herself for a silent takedown. She was right behind him, but her hands were trembling in front of her. No matter how many lives she had taken in the course of a day, she couldn't bring herself to kill with her bare hands. _Do it, NOW, or you die._ She closed her eyes tightly as she grabbed the man from behind, pulling him to the ground and snapping his neck in her arms. Hands still shaking, she picked up his rifle and took aim, but she was all over the place. She took a deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves. She scanned the area first to figure out how many men there were. Five men were patrolling the area where she had emerged from the catacombs.

One by one, Valerie snuffed them out until there was no one left. She dropped her sniper to the ground and fell to her knees, feeling suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion, still struggling to cope with breaking a man's neck with her own hands. It was then that the pain from that ricochet bullet came back to her and she groaned loudly as she pressed her hand to her wound. She became light headed when she realized just how badly she had been injured; there was already so much blood, her shirt drenched with it already. Her mind raced in a panicked frenzy as the fear of dying swept over her. Valerie racked her mind for any solution, but there was nothing she could do. When realization struck her that she was going to die, she became comfortably numb inside. Valerie crawled to a nearby tree and rested with her back propped against it, eyes closed, determined to die in as much of a relaxed, peaceful state as she could manage. _What a lame-ass way to go, after everything. Still, it was bound to happen eventually. I was never cut out for this. I was lucky, though. Most people don't ever get to experience something like this before they die._

Just then, Valerie heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her, and her eyes shot open. She could make out a figure in the fog in front of her. Though the pain was excruciating, she managed to stand up and point her hand gun at the figure, keeping her free hand pressed firmly against her gunshot wound. She was ready to pull the trigger, but the thought crossed her mind that it could be Nate or Elena. She would have to wait until she could be sure, but she would be ready to go in for the kill. Valerie's heart then stopped, and her eyes welled up with tears as the first thing to emerge from the fog was the unmistakable golden handgun. Eddy stepped through the fog and suddenly stopped when he saw Valerie standing before him, though he never lowered his gun away from her.

"So," Valerie began, "What will you do?" she asked him. "Are you gonna kill me?" Eddy didn't answer, though he still kept his gun on Valerie, glaring at her with intense ferocity. Valerie sighed and closed her eyes as she crouched down, placed her gun on the ground, and sat back down against her tree. "Well, what do you know? It turns out I can't bring myself to kill you. I could never kill you, even if it means I have to be the one to die," she admitted. "So do whatever you're going to do. Whatever you decide, I don't blame you." The tears came without warning. Valerie had fought to stay strong for so long that she couldn't hold it in anymore. She sat there, crying silently to herself, waiting for Eddy to shoot her.

"Any last words?" he finally asked her. Even in the face of death, Valerie found herself smiling, thankful that he at least granted her the courtesy to speak her peace.

"I guess I just want to tell you that I'm sorry," she answered. At first, Eddy's eyes widened briefly with shock, but his temper abruptly spiked, jarring her a little bit.

"What? You betray me, help my enemy escape, kill my men, and all you say is 'sorry'?" he demanded from her.

"I know. It's fucked up, right?" she asked him, and she let the tears flow freely from that point on. "I'm the worst kind of person. I murdered countless men, betrayed my only friend, and here I am crying, playing the victim," she spoke through her tears, her voice shaking. "I don't know what makes me that way, but I hate myself for it. I never wanted to betray you like this. I took your words to heart and held tight to them whenever I felt weak. I lived by them, and I fought to survive at all costs. I hope you can respect that and forgive me one day. I hope that if you ever look back on all of this, you don't remember me as the small weakling I am. I'd rather you remember who I was before today, because those are the memories that I hold onto even still. I'm glad you saved me that day, even after everything that's happened. As many times as I've faced death on this island, I never thought you'd be the one to kill me, but if it had to be anyone, I'm honestly glad it's you. Even if it's a lie, I'll be telling myself that it wasn't easy for you to kill me, right up to my last breath. Just- don't let me make a fool of myself anymore and put me out of my misery already, alright?"

Valerie looked down at the ground and smiled, content with her final words. She felt that everything that needed to be said had been said, and she meant every word. She closed her eyes and waited, wondering what it would feel like to die, whether it would hurt, whether it would be instant, whether there'd be consciousness or nothingness afterwards, but death never came.

"God, you're such a loser," Eddy finally said. Stunned, Valerie's eyes shot open again. "You watch too much anime; what, did you steal that little speech from one? What a nerd," he spoke nonchalantly as he approached her and plucked her up from the ground, carrying her bride style into a nearby building. "Look, I'm not going to kill a crying woman at her lowest point. That would make me less than a man. Let's get you patched up," he explained. Valerie couldn't bring herself to speak; she could only continue to silently cry and hold onto him, hugging herself close to him.

 _Why are we both so hopelessly fucked up like this?_ she thought to herself. _He's right. My life has turned into some poorly written anime drama. But, what kind of stupid heroine falls for the villain in the story? I'm pathetic,_ she thought to herself, unable to deny it. Eddy placed her gently on a wooden table and went to grab something on the other side of the room. It was Valerie's backpack. He must have held onto it after they were separated. Eddy quickly and silently retrieved everything he needed from the bag and placed everything on the table beside her.

"Lift your arms," he commanded her, and she did so without hesitation. Eddy then lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it aside.

"H-hey, what are you-"

"Shut up," he said firmly. "Don't be so immature," he added as he examined her wound. "There's no exit wound. We'll get the bullet out and disinfect it. This is going to hurt," he warned her bluntly as he pulled out a knife. Valerie braced herself and gritted her teeth as Eddy dug the knife into her wound to retrieve the bullet. She let out a solitary cry as he dug it out. "Good girl," he encouraged her, speaking calmly and quietly as he continued to work. "You're lucky. It's really not that bad." He dipped a cotton ball in hydrogen peroxide and swabbed it across her wound before wrapping her torso in bandages. He then removed her bandana and tended to the wound on her head, disinfecting it and then taping a small, square-shaped bandage to it. "There. These will probably last you until you can see a doctor. I got fired, so I'm getting off this island. You should do the same," he said coldly as he turned away.

"Hey! Wait a sec," Valerie stopped him, grabbing him by the hand. "Thank you."

"Don't look too much into it. I don't need you getting attached. You should leave before I change my mind about killing you," he warned her.

"Cut the crap, Eddy," Valerie said, "You couldn't kill me even if you wanted to, so quit the tough guy act already," she said as she pulled her hand away from his, thoroughly annoyed by his act.

"You're so annoying. Why don't you just count your blessings and go already?"

"Because I've come too far to quit now!" Valerie answered immediately. It was the truth, and everything she had been through would be for nothing if she stopped now. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she spoke again, knowing it would upset Eddy. "I want to finish what we started and find El Dorado together." Eddy whipped around so fast it gave Valerie second-hand whip lash just watching.

"You did not seriously just say that. I should shoot you just for suggesting it. Our partnership is over. Go home, Valerie."

"Fine. You'll have to shoot me then, but we both know you won't, because you're the loser that's in love with a total basket case. I feel sorry for you actually; I don't think you realize just how screwed up I am," she said with a chuckle. When she looked back up at Eddy, she was taken aback by the expression on his face; it wasn't at all what she was expecting. _Fear? No, dismay, maybe? Torment, misery? What the hell's that all about?_ Valerie wondered to herself.

"You're so stupid. Why don't you just quit?" It was almost like he was begging her.

"You've saved me twice now. I have to even the score. We were supposed to be equals." Eddy stood in stunned silence as she spoke. "We're doing this, and then we'll be square. You'll never have to deal with me again. Hate me as much as you want- I deserve it, but I owe this much to you, alright? Now, stop being so stubborn and-" Valerie was stopped mid-sentence when Eddy pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes widened with surprise, but then slowly closed again as she melted inside. He pulled away from her slightly and looked at her in a way she had never seen before. Embarrassed, she quickly looked away and started fiddling with her hair, and she became extremely aware that she was still shirtless. Eddy wrapped his hands around hers and stopped them from trembling.

"This is stupid, you know," he said to her. Whether he was talking about _them,_ or going after the treasure, it didn't matter; both were true.

"Yeah, I know," she admitted. She smiled to herself, still avoiding eye contact with him. _God, I've got a twisted idea of 'romantic',_ she thought to herself. Eddy gently placed a hand under her chin and forced her to look up at him.

"As long as you know that, I'm in," he said to her as he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers again, kissing her softly. Valerie then wrapped her arms around his neck and let herself fall without holding back. Her heart fluttered with excitement as he dropped one of his hands to her thigh, rubbing her inner thigh gently. Her mind was screaming that this was a terrible idea, but she couldn't hear it over the pounding of her heart as he nibbled playfully on her lower lip and unhooked her bra. His touch electrified her as he gently ran his fingers up and down her arms and he torso. He barely touched her, but it sent chills up her spine in the best way. As he reached for the button on her shorts, she quickly covered her face with both her hands, afraid to see the look on his face when he finally saw her fully naked body. Eddy immediately stopped, and Valerie looked up at him through her fingers. He was pulling his shirt over his head, exposing his perfect body. He then pulled her hands away from her face and handed his shirt to her.

"Wear this if it makes you more comfortable, but the shorts obviously have to come off," he said to her, maintaining a tough exterior. In that moment Valerie decided that it was okay to be in love with someone like Eddy, and she would love with no shame or regrets. Only someone that truly loved her could know her so well, knowing her insecurities well enough to know exactly how to comfort her and give her the support she needed. In the short time they had known each other, Eddy had come to know Valerie better than she knew herself; he'd seen the darkness and the weakness she carried and still chose to stay by her side after everything, good and bad. That, to Valerie, made it okay to fall in love with the villain.


	8. Chapter 8

"How's the pain?" Eddy asked, referring to her gunshot wound as he slipped back into his shirt and tossed Valerie hers. She was sitting on the table, her legs dangling off the edge, and Eddy took a seat in front of her.

"It stings like hell, but I'm kinda into it," Valerie said with a smile as she began pulling her tank top back on over her head.

"I didn't know you were such a masochist," Eddy teased her. He leaned forward and tenderly kissed her inner thigh and then her stomach, taking care not to touch her gunshot wound directly. Valerie tilted her head back, closing her eyes and letting out a satisfied sigh.

"You know we don't have time for that," Valerie sighed, resting her foot on his shoulder, slowly stretching out her leg, pushing him farther away until his chair began teetering precariously on its back legs. "Every second we spend here, Roman and Navarro get closer to finding El Dorado," she added more seriously.

"They could search this island for years, and they would never find it- not without Drake, and not without you," he argued, resting comfortably on the edge while Valerie playfully rocked him back and forth, balancing him on his chair's back legs. Valerie couldn't help laughing.

"You're probably right about that," she admitted. "Still, I'm ready to get the hell out of this place. This whole experience has been one long nightmare," she said somberly as she recounted everything that had happened since that first night in the prison cell.

"It wasn't all bad, was it?" Eddy asked with the hint of a grin on his lips.

"You men and your egos constantly needing to be stroked," Valerie said with a laugh.

"But, you did like stroking it."

"You're sick."

"You love it."

"Yeah, I do," she admitted and reassured him, smiling warmly as she fondly recalled every stroke of his hands on her body, every brush of his skin against hers, every sigh, every muscle spasm; she lightly bit her lip as she began to lose her will power. "We'd better get going," she said suddenly, hopping down from the table.

"Well, you're the boss," Eddy sighed. "What do you want to do?"

"Wow, _I'm_ the boss?" Valerie asked with a smile. "I should have slept with you a long time ago," she added with a laugh and circled around the room slowly. There were small, circular stone tablets around the entire room, each bearing a different symbol. "See these symbols? They've got to be important."

"What, like some sort of puzzle?" Eddy asked her, to which she nodded. "So, what, do you think you can solve it, college girl?" he asked her.

"What? Fuck that noise; there's way too many permutations. Let's just use C4 and blow shit up. I'm sure one of these walls opens up," she said as she started walking around, inspecting each brick wall. One in particular gave off a slight draft from the other side, and when she put her ear to the wall, she could hear the faint sound of voices echoing off the walls on the other side. "Here. It's this one," she finally concluded.

"God, you're amazing. I'll radio my best men and then we'll get going," he said as he reached for his walkie-talkie. While they waited for the group to arrive, they stood side by side, leaning against the wall, Valerie resting her head on his shoulder and Eddy resting a hand inside her back pocket. They remained like that in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the brief moment of peace. Valerie sighed and closed her eyes, luxuriating in his embrace. Suddenly, the doors swung open, and the sound of hurried feet shuffling into the room could be heard.

"What the hell is she doing here?" One of his men angrily demanded. Valerie slowly opened her eyes to see a group of pirates with their hands reaching for their guns, one man actually pointing his gun at Valerie. She maintained a blank, apathetic expression, completely unamused.

"Didn't I kill you already?" She asked, tilting her head slightly and squinting her eyes. She then let out a laugh. "I'm sorry, you all just look so alike; it's impossible to tell the difference after the first ten, twenty, thirty…I've killed so many of you I've lost track," she said with a stoic expression, doing her best to stay strong. She decided that pretending to be a remorseless sociopath was the best way to keep them afraid of her.

"Bitch!" the man yelled, never taking his gun off of her.

"Oh, boo-fucking-hoo," Valerie fired back. "You act like I killed in cold blood. I didn't fire the first shot, but I _will_ be the one to fire the last. Remember that," Valerie warned them. "Mommy and Daddy have settled their differences, and you can be a part of this dysfunctional family, or you can eat my ass, and eat a bullet while you're at it. Now, who's got my goddamn C4?" she demanded, stepping up to the group of men, holding her hand out, waiting patiently for the men to comply. They looked to Eddy, who remained behind, watching silently, ready to step in if Valerie needed. He gave one nod, and his men eased up and put their guns away, and one handed Valerie the C4. Valerie smiled sweetly and gave the man two gentle taps on the cheek with her hand. "Was that so hard?" she asked before turning away and returning to Eddy. She handed him the C4, wearing a triumphant smile on her face.

"Very nice," Eddy complimented her. "I like the way you command respect," he added with a smile.

"Thanks. I learned by watching you. Now, let's light this candle already," she said with a smile. Eddy mounted the C4 to the wall, and took a few big steps back, everyone else following his lead.

"Hit it," Eddy commanded. One of his men nodded and remotely detonated the C4. Eddy made sure to put himself between Valerie and the explosion, shielding her from any debris that might have been launched towards them. The volume of the explosion was ear-shattering, and the debris from the brick wall flew everywhere. When the dust had cleared, Valerie and Eddy both approached the opening they had created and peered inside, Eddy pointing a flashlight inside. There was a small room with a small open doorway that seemed to lead to a passageway.

"Yes! I fucking knew it!" Valerie exclaimed with excitement as she gave Eddy a high five. Overtaken by her excitement, Valerie was the first to crawl through the hole in the wall. "There's a long, narrow hallway back here. We're definitely on the right track," Valerie said, motioning for the rest of the men to follow her. She was already making her way through the tight hallway before Eddy and his men made it into the room. When she discovered what was at the end of the passage, she stood in silence and awe, taking in her surroundings.

"What the Hell is all this?" Eddy wondered aloud, startling Valerie now that he and his men had finally caught up to her.

"It's a really elaborate way to hide the damn treasure," Valerie answered unenthusiastically. The room was dark and dingy, the only light sources being several open-flame chandeliers swinging from the high ceiling. There were stone stair cases all over the place that seemed to lead to absolutely nowhere. The only clues pointing them in the right direction were random roman numerals scattered all over the place, each with a corresponding directional arrow. "These numbers are important. I've seen them before," Valerie said out loud, frustrated as she racked her brain, trying desperately to remember. A light suddenly went off in her head as she remembered seeing three roman numerals etched into the corner of Nate's map, but her rush of excitement quickly dissipated when she realized she didn't remember which roman numerals were written on the map. "It's no use. I can't remember," she finally admitted in frustration.

"Alright, well, let's fan out and check the place out," Eddy said, Valerie nodding in agreement. "Be on the look-out for Drake and his little girlfriend; shoot them on sight," he commanded. Valerie's heart sank into her stomach, and she felt as if she was going to throw up; the thought of having to shoot Nate and Elena made her sick. She couldn't possibly bring herself to it, she _wouldn't._ She followed closely next to Eddy while his men went off in small groups in different directions. Eddy must have sensed she was on edge, because he casually asked, "'Something on your mind?" as he walked, guiding the way with a flashlight. Valerie hesitated before answering; she was honestly afraid to bring it up for fear of what he might say or do, but she had to try and make him see her way.

"Eddy, I-I really don't think there's a need for any more violence," she said quietly, her voice shaking with anxiety.

"What?" he asked sharply, whipping around to face her so fast that she actually stumbled back a few steps.

"I-I'm sorry, I just don't think it's necessary. They just want to leave; they're not a threat to us," she explained, hoping she could get him to see reason. She could see that he was thinking about it, but she knew he had already made up his mind.

"I'm sorry, but I can't promise you that," he finally said. Though she was disappointed, Valerie nodded, understanding that she had asked too much of him.

"Well, I won't be any part of it. You do what you have to, and I'll do what I have to so they stay safe. If I were you, I'd be prepared to see a lot of your men die," she said firmly, taking the lead and snatching his flashlight from him. Eddy put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, and she quickly whipped around before he could get a word out. "I don't want there to be any more blood, any more violence, any more killing; but I won't stand by and see my friends get killed. I'm on your side, but this is something that you just can't ask me to do," she explained. "If it comes to it, I'll put down as many of your guys as I have to," she added.

"Are you gonna put me down too, you know, _if it comes to it_?" he asked.

"Don't be stupid. I couldn't kill you when _my own_ life depended on it, remember?" she reminded him, but he wasn't convinced.

"Nice try, but I know you a little better than you think; you're the type of person that will throw your life away to protect someone else without a second thought." There was a long, awkward silence before either of them spoke again. He was absolutely right.

"I will _always_ be on your side. If it ever came down to it, I would pick _you_ every time. You don't ever have to worry about where my loyalty lies, okay? I promise you on my life. But, those two have kinda grown on me. I won't be the one that fires the bullet that kills them. That's all I'm saying." Neither of them had to say another word about it; they both understood each other perfectly. Valerie continued to lead the way until she saw something that aroused her curiosity. "What do you think this was?" she asked, staring down at the crumbled remains of some wooden structure.

"'No idea, but check that out," he said while pointing at something ahead of them. There was a large, open gateway a few yards away.

"I'm sure whatever this thing was, Nate broke it. He probably opened that gate too; they're definitely here," Valerie spoke not directly to Eddy, but rather thought out loud. Eddy and Valerie walked side by side through the open gate to find that the strange labyrinth continued into this room as well, with little roman numerals all over the place still. What immediately stood out was a tower that was several stories high; both Eddy and Valerie knew it was worth investigating. Eddy contacted his men via walkie-talkie and gave them the orders to stand guard in different positions both on the ground level and at the highest level of the tower. The climb to the top was long and tiring, and the winding staircase only made Valerie dizzy. When they reached the top, they immediately were faced with a dilemma; there were two exits, each marked with a different roman numeral, one with a II and the other with a IV.

"I guess we should split up," Valerie said. Eddy nodded in agreement and handed her a walkie-talkie.

"Radio me if you find anything. Keep in touch and stay safe," Eddy said sternly. Valerie couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Okay, _mom,_ " she said with a smile before they parted ways, Valerie deciding to follow the number II. Ahead of her some ways she could see another tower that seemed promising. She stopped suddenly when she saw a quick flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned, but was confused when she saw nothing; she saw a few of Eddy's men pacing back and forth on guard above her, but she knew that's not what she saw. She was suddenly overcome with the same eerie feeling she had experienced in the monastery that she was being stalked by something sinister. She had nearly decided that she had just imagined it when she heard a loud, blood-curdling scream that echoed around the entire room, followed by more men screaming and shooting at something that Valerie couldn't see. Valerie took a few quick steps, racing toward the sound, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard a disturbing snarl come from behind her.

Valerie slowly turned to see what was behind her, but nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to see; all the strange things that had been happening finally began to make some sense as a horrific creature crawled menacingly down the wall towards her, snarling and salivating as it approached. It was a thin, pale, sickly-looking humanoid creature with long limbs and bony fingers, razor sharp yellow nails, vicious fangs and rotten, black gums. This was the creature that had left the strange footprints in the forest, and this was the creature that Eddy's men had feared when she climbed her way out of the catacombs. Valerie slowly reached for her walkie-talkie, never taking her eyes off the creature.

"Eddy, there's something over here- something not human. I think it's killed our men. Please hurry," she spoke barely above a whisper. She dropped the walkie-talkie out of her trembling hands and continued to stare up at the creature as it slowly made its way towards her, crawling demonically down the side of the tower like something out of a horror movie.

Valerie stood frozen, paralyzed by fear, no matter how much her brain was screaming for her body to move. She couldn't bring herself to run, but she was able to slowly reach for her gun with trembling hands. Without warning, the creature suddenly leaped from the wall and lunged towards her with incredible speed. Valerie fired one shot in a panic but missed. She was violently tackled to the ground, and the monster scratched at her as it tried to rip her flesh apart with its nails and teeth. She fought to push the beast off of her so she could make a run for the gun that had been knocked from her hand, but it was too strong for her. She did her best to keep its face an arm's length away from hers; she forced herself to push beyond the burning sensation in her muscles as she kept it at bay with one arm and repeatedly pounded her right fist into its face. The rotting flesh fell away easily with every blow, further deforming its face and leaving small chunks of flesh behind on Valerie's fist, now dripping with blood so dark it was almost black. She began to hyperventilate and cry as the monster refused to give up, and she became weaker the more she fought. Her heart raced so fast in a panic that she was sure her heart would simply give up on her.

Her vision was now blurry, and her hearing muffled as if she were underwater. She couldn't feel anything anymore other than panic and terror; she had become numb to everything else, feeling no pain as the monster scratched at her arms and face. Valerie was positive she was close to death when she heard the muffled sound of a gunshot, felt the sensation of something wet hitting her face, and feeling the monster go limp on top of her. She lay still, unable to move due to her exhaustion, and still unable to see or hear clearly. She could hear what sounded like her name faintly being called, and she wondered if she had actually passed and if she was hearing her dead loved ones beckoning her into the spirit realm. Something else then suddenly came into her field of vision, and she felt a heavy wait lifted off of her, and she realized it was Eddy kicking the monster aside.

"Valerie snap out of it!" she heard him pleading clearly. She blinked a few times as her eyesight came back into focus, and she saw him kneeling over her with a look she never wanted to see on his face again; it was a mix of concern, guilt, and regret. She slowly sat up as to not give herself a head rush and buried her face in his chest, letting her tears flow freely. She was overwhelmed by a mixture of fear, relief, and gratitude that she just couldn't control. She only cried more when Eddy wrapped his arms tightly around her like he would never let her go again. As soon as she was able to calm down, Eddy said to her, "We're never separating again, you got it?" He sounded as if he was trying to stay angry to keep from getting overly emotional. He then helped her to stand up, letting her lean on him until she could stand on her own. "Can you walk?" he asked her, to which she nodded.

"Yeah," she answered weakly as she wiped the tears and blood from her face. Suddenly, more snarling could be heard echoing throughout the room, and more of those creatures could be seen crawling towards them from all directions.

"Shit. Okay, do you think you can run?" Eddy asked her. She quickly nodded, and both of them darted towards the second tower as fast as they could. "What the Hell are those things?" Eddy asked as they ran.

"Who gives a shit right now? Just run!" Valerie shouted. She recalled overhearing Eddy telling Roman and Navarro that the island was cursed. Valerie was now beginning to believe his assumption was right. As they climbed the tower, they saw that the entire place was littered with the remains of the dead, bodies torn limb from limb, blood staining everything; some of the bodies were missing heads, and some heads could be seen without bodies, small portions of the spines still connected, their eyes wide, vacant, and glossy. Valerie resisted the urge to vomit, at least until they were safe. They reached the top of the tower, Eddy making sure to shut and lock the door behind them, and ran down a small, narrow hallway until they reached another large, circular room. Valerie immediately leaned against the doorway and threw up. Eddy held her hair back for her and rubbed her back. He handed her a flask, and without thinking she took a swig and swished the alcohol around her mouth before spitting it out. She then took another swig, swallowing the shot this time.

"God, what is it with you pirates and rum?" Valerie asked, wincing as the alcohol burned her insides as it traveled through her body.

"Valerie!" Elena called to her as she rushed to her side.

"Elena? Nate? Oh, my God, I'm so glad you two are safe," Valerie said, hugging Elena tightly.

"Jesus, what's the Hell's going on out there? What happened to you?" Nate asked, as the monsters could be heard snarling and trying to force their way in, as well as the screams of what few men were still alive out there.

"Didn't you see them?" Eddy asked, pulling his gun out, ready to shoot.

"These things…they're not human- not anymore, anyway. Look, we have to get out of here _now,_ " Valerie urgently explained. "Can you two play nice long enough to get out of here?" Valerie asked, looking at both Nate and Eddy. They both looked at each other in disgust, but eventually agreed.

"I guess we can do that," Eddy said begrudgingly.

"There's a latter over there. One of us could probably reach it with a boost," Elena said.

"I'll boost you up. See if you can do anything with that machinery up there," Nate added. He then kneeled down and let Elena climb onto his back. He then propelled her upwards so she could reach. As she climbed, she said,

"It looks like some kind of pully system. There's a rope! I'll see if I can lower it down to you guys. There's a tunnel up here, too; we can get out this way!" As she climbed, insidious growling and snarling could be heard inside the room, and Valerie's heart instantly dropped. Sure enough, they had found a way in, and had begun crawling up from the depths of the chasm below.

"Valerie, hurry. I'll give you a boost, and you see if you can help her lower that rope faster," Eddy said urgently, cupping his hands for her to plant her foot so he could boost her up.

"W-what? No!" she objected immediately.

"Dammit, there's no time to argue. Just do it!" he barked in frustration.

"We agreed not to split up. I don't feel good about this. Let me help you guys down here!" she pleaded with him. With nerves of steel, Valerie quickly whipped out her gun and shot at one of the monsters approaching Eddy from behind. "See? I can help!"

"Uh, guys, I could really use one of you over here!" Nate called.

"Shut up!" both Valerie and Eddy shouted in unison.

Eddy put two firm hands on her shoulders. "I need you to not argue and just do what I ask just this once." Valerie didn't like the idea of splitting up in the slightest. She didn't like the idea of not being right by his side if he needed her or vice versa. However, as Nate had already begun firing shots at the zombie-like creatures, unable to wait on Eddy any longer, Valerie had no options left; this was an argument that Eddy was going to win due to his stubbornness.

"You better not die on me, okay?" she finally answered. He smiled down at her and cupped his hands for her again. She placed one foot in his hands, and he launched her upward.

"I'll see you in a few minutes," he said to her before he joined Nate in the middle of the room. Valerie believed with all her heart that it was true, but Eddy knew there was a very real possibility he and Nate could die. "Drake, if we don't make it out of this alive, I just want you to know…I hate your guts," Eddy said, his back against Nate's.

"Likewise, pal. Now, let's do this!"

When Valerie reached the top of the latter, Elena was working on cranking a lever, though she appeared to be stuck.

"It's rusted over. I can't get it to budge," she grunted as she continued to pull on it. Valerie quickly rushed over to the double ended lever, and she began pushing on her side with all her might. As they struggled together to get the pully system working, Valerie listened intently to what was going on below. The constant stream of gunfire actually relieved Valerie; as long as she could still hear the sound of gunfire, it meant that Nate and Eddy were still alive. "C'mon, we almost got it," Elena grunted as they continued to struggle. Valerie then turned her full attention to the task at hand, paying no more attention to what was going on below them, as she trusted Nate's and Eddy's abilities. They finally loosened the lever to where it was gliding smoothly, and the pully system slowly moved to the center of the room, and the rope began to descend. Nate was the first one up, and he was followed by several of the fiendish creatures climbing up the walls after him.

"Go, go, go!" he shouted in a panic, and he forced both women into the tunnel ahead. Valerie hadn't even noticed yet that Eddy wasn't with him. The three of them shot their guns blindly at the creatures chasing them as they continued to run through the dark tunnel until they reached the other side. Nate quickly closed and tightened the lock on a heavy metal door behind them. The three of them were panting and gasping for air.

"What the Hell were those things?" Elena asked.

"I really don't care. I never want to see one of those things again," Valerie laughed. Valerie turned, expecting to see Eddy standing there, and then looked around the entire room to realize that he wasn't with them. She suddenly felt like she had been punched in the stomach, like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"Nate, where's Eddy?" she demanded. Nate couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes or say the words. It should have been clear to Valerie, but she didn't want to see it. "I-I have to go back! He's back there alone with those things! I can't believe you left him back there!" she said frantically as she went to unlock the door. Nate quickly intervened before she could get herself and the rest of them killed. He got a firm grip on her shoulders and gave her one quick shake.

"He's not back there, Valerie. I'm so sorry. I tried," he apologized sincerely with a pained look on his face, but there's no way he could even begin to know what Valerie was feeling.

"No, no that's not right. I just saw him- he said he'd be back in a few minutes! You're joking with me right now. Was this his idea? I'm gonna kick his ass when I see him," she laughed nervously as she rapidly spoke complete nonsense, trying to come up with any alternative to the truth. She tried to free herself from Nate's grip, but he held her tighter. Elena watched from the background, on the verge of tears as she uncomfortably watched her new friend losing her grip with reality.

"NO, Valerie," Nate said firmly. "I won't let you get yourself killed, which is exactly what will happen if you go back there. You won't find what you're looking for. I'm sorry," he continued to apologize, though he spoke with more authority to try and make her listen to reason. Nate then reached for a gun he had holstered, and Valerie's eyes instantly welled up with tears and spilled over. "I was able to grab this for you," he said as he handed the gold plated handgun to her. With trembling hands, she took the gun from him and held it close to her heart, burying her face in Nate's chest and sobbing. She felt like her whole world had come crashing down, and as she saw her world crumbling away, her knees gave way, and she could no longer stand without Nate's help. He held onto her and gently dropped to the ground with her, letting her cry as much as she needed to. Elena then kneeled down beside her and tenderly put a loving hand on her shoulder, reaching out and taking Valerie's hand in her free hand.

"I can take it from here, Nate. Why don't you see if you can get that elevator working?" she suggested. He nodded and went to investigate.

"The power's out. I'll have to find a way to turn on the generator," he sighed; nothing could ever be easy for them. "I want you girls to stay held up in here until I get back. Will you two be alright together?" he asked. Elena nodded.

"I'll take care of her. You get going." Nate then nodded created a way out of the room by smashing one of the large glass windows.

"I will be right back," he promised, and he was gone. Elena and Valerie sat in silence as she wept quietly to herself, Elena gently rocking her back and forth and rubbing her back. They sat like this for what seemed like hours until Valerie could compose herself long enough to speak clearly.

"I can't believe he's gone. Just a few minutes ago, we were-" she stopped, trying to choke back fresh tears. "He wanted to leave. He was fired from his job, and he was going to leave, but I convinced him to stay," she said weakly, new tears spilling over and streaming down her face now as her guilt began to consume her.

"You can't think like that. It's going to kill you," Elena tried to comfort her.

"Why are men like that? Why do they think they have to protect us? If I had just followed my gut and stayed with them, I never would have let this happen."

"Yeah, and then maybe I would have been stuck up there, unable to turn that lever and lower the rope to you guys. If he _hadn't_ convinced you to help me, all three of you might be dead right now. We can sit here and talk about 'if I had done this or that', but it won't solve anything, and it won't make you feel better." Valerie nodded and wiped her tears away, though new ones still continued to flow of their own free will.

"You're right," she said weakly once she was finally able to stop crying. "There's no use crying like a little baby right now. It's just- so hard! Whenever I doubted myself, Eddy would be there to tell me to shut up, and stop being so stupid." Valerie actually let out a laugh as she recalled similar conversations with Eddy. "It sounds harsh when I put it like that out of context, but he had his own way of encouraging me and making me see my own self-worth, you know? I just- I can't believe it's all over. I've felt enough emotions and experienced enough for a lifetime in just the last two weeks. God, have we really only known each other that long?" Valerie wondered out loud. "It's crazy how fast I could've formed a bond with someone so unlikely. I feel like half of my heart is missing. I feel so stupid." Elena smiled down at Valerie and gave her a comforting hug.

"If you're stupid, then I'm just as stupid," she admitted as she glanced at the window Nate had gone through, a concerned expression on her face.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Valerie confessed. "I'm never going to be okay again. I don't know what I thought was going to happen when we got off this island- but I could've had any future I wanted, and now all I can think about is how Eddy isn't going to be any part of it; we could have worked jobs together in the future, or we could have gone our separate ways and continued to stay in touch; anything would have been better than _this._ I don't know how I'm going to get through this," Valerie's heart began to race as she felt a panic attack coming on, and she felt herself falling apart again.

"You _will_ get past this," Elena said firmly. "Of course you're a mess right now. You need time to process this and grieve. Right now, you need to be strong, though. We'll be on a boat out of here in no time, and I promise you can count on me to help you. Don't forget, you're stuck with me and Nate for good after this." Valerie was able to manage a small smile. Her heart began to swell as she felt Elena's love and friendship resonate in her. Valerie had almost forgotten in the middle of all the chaos of the island just how lucky and grateful she was to have come away from this with two friends, especially considering how they had started on opposite sides of the conflict.

"Thank you," Valerie finally said. Both women sat in silence then, waiting anxiously for Nate to return. Valerie could see how visibly worried Elena was as she paced the floor from time to time. Elena was constantly moving, whether it was the pacing, or whether she was fidgeting with her hands; she was becoming increasingly nervous the longer it took for Nate to contact them. Valerie, on the other hand, had complete faith in him, and she was so emotionally exhausted that all she really wanted to do was lay down and take a nap, hoping to wake up at home next to her dogs to find that this whole experience had been a long nightmare. She leaned against the large round table in the middle of the room and for the first time noticed a pile of papers spread over the surface.

"Whoa," Valerie breathed. "Look at this! It looks like the statue is back at the monastery," Valerie said as she examined the papers.

"That means we were right on top of it," Elena groaned. "I'm sure Nate's going to love to hear that," she added with a laugh.

Both women were suddenly startled by a loud banging on the other side of the heavy metal door. Human voices could be heard on the other side.

"Shit! Shit! It's Roman and Navarro," Valerie explained as she reached for Eddy's gun and pointed it at the door, ready to blow away the first person to walk through the door. Elena stood with her, gun at the ready. There was a muffled yet loud _crack_ from the other side, and the door came loose from its hinges. From the other side, Navarro gave the door one swift kick and knocked it completely off its hinges. Navarro walked in wearing a smug grin as he was followed by several heavily armed mercenaries.

"Oh, how cute. They're making their last stand," he laughed at Valerie and Elena as they still stood firmly with their guns pointed at him, though they knew this was a fight they couldn't win. "Drop your weapons. NOW," he commanded them. Valerie's hands trembled with rage as she refused to lower her guard or her gun. She glared at Navarro with fire in her eyes, though he continued to smile, thinking he had already won. He slowly began to walk towards her, completely unfazed by her.

"Don't," Elena said firmly, shocking both Navarro and Valerie. "If you don't want to die right here and now, you'll back away from her. Your men can shoot me, but can they do it before I get off one shot? And you'll have no leverage over Nate if either of us dies. I suggest you think long and hard before you make your next move," Elena warned him. He glared at Elena and then at Valerie before he spoke again.

"Of course. We have no intentions of killing you," Navarro said calmly before instructing his men to put their guns down. They reluctantly complied, and Valerie began to feel uneasy. Something was off. "I just wanted to give something to Valerie- something I owe her," he said as he swiftly pulled out his gun and slapped Valerie across the face with all his strength.

"Valerie!" Elena cried, taking a step toward her, but the mercenaries all pointed their guns at Elena again, stopping her in her tracks. She then dropped her gun to the ground; now that she had already failed to make good on her promise to shoot him, there was no point in playing the part anymore. Valerie fell to her knees, doubled over in pain as a steady stream of blood trickled down from her mouth. Navarro kneeled beside her and grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her head up and forcing her to look at him.

"I'm so glad you managed to live long enough for me to return that favor," he said with a smile. "Where's your little boyfriend, hm? He didn't take you with him when we fired him?" Navarro was still smiling a sinister smile as he spoke. "No, I know he never made it off the island. We saw. There were bits and pieces of him everywhere. I bet he died for you, didn't he?" Navarro then began to laugh in Valerie's face, enjoying every bit of her suffering and soaking it in. Valerie glared up at him through teary eyes, and with a mouth full of blood, she decided to spit in his face and into his open mouth. Disgusted, he reeled back and began choking, gagging, and vomiting. Valerie only smiled, feeling incredibly pleased with herself knowing that Eddy would have been proud. "I'll kill you!" Navarro grunted as he pressed his gun to Valerie's forehead. There was suddenly a loud gunshot that rang in Valerie's ears, but much to her surprise, she wasn't dead. Roman had fired a warning shot into the ceiling.

"That's enough," Roman commanded. "We have company," he added, and everyone's attention turned to what Roman was looking at. In the distance, Nate could be seen looking at them from inside another room. Roman then approached the microphone, and Navarro violently picked Valerie up off the ground and held her tightly at gunpoint while one of his mercenaries did the same with Elena.

"Can you hear me?" Roman said into the microphone. Nate's lips could be seen moving, though they couldn't make out what he was saying. "No microphone on your end? What a shame. I just wanted to thank you for leading us to El Dorado. Oh, and I hope you don't mind if we keep miss Fisher and miss Cruz a little while longer- just to discourage you and your partner from trying anything creative. So long, Nate. It's been fun." Nate glared at them as they dragged the girls into the newly powered elevator, determined to reach them in time to save them. Realizing that Nate didn't know the statue was back at the cathedral, Valerie felt a quick wave of panic as they got closer to the elevator. She fought and scratched and kicked and finally bit down as hard as she could onto Navarro's arm until she drew blood and he let go. She made a mad dash for the microphone and spoke frantically to make sure she got everything out before they stopped her.

"Nate! It's below the altar in the cathedral! You have to stop them! You-" she was cut short when Navarro took the butt of his gun and nailed Valerie in the back of the head with it. She dropped to the floor like a corpse, though she was still mildly conscious. She fought to keep herself from blacking out, knowing that if she did, she may never wake up. She felt herself being lifted off of the ground, and her body swayed as Navarro carried her over his shoulder, giving her motion sickness. They entered the elevator and took it as far up as it would go. Valerie only hoped that Nate had understood her and would be able to stop them. She had the sinking suspicion that whatever had turned those monsters into what they were had something to do with the treasure. She weakly flailed her arms and legs in short bursts of energy, but it was no use.

The elevator stopped, and they stepped out into what Valerie immediately recognized as the library, which meant they were incredibly close to the cathedral; this was the final stretch, and there wasn't much time left for Valerie or anyone else to make many game-changing moves. As things stood at that moment, it looked as though Roman and Navarro had won. They led the girls with ease to the cathedral and shut the heavy doors behind them. They then made their way down the center of the room to the alter. Navarro then commanded some of his men to push it out of the way; sure enough, there was a small opening under the alter. One by one, they each entered the secret passage, one man having to lower Valerie down to Navarro before they could move on.

"You're going to die here," Valerie managed to say as she fought to maintain consciousness.

"What did you just say?" Navarro demanded, though he never broke pace as he continued to walk with everyone else through the tunnel.

"You're going to die here. Nate will come. And if he doesn't kill you, I will." Navarro then dropped her on the ground abruptly, and Valerie landed hard on her back. Her knees shook as she attempted to stand, and she had to lean against the wall for support. Navarro smirked as he watched her pathetic attempt to stand on her own.

"Look at you, so pathetic. You can't do anything, and you won't do anything." Navarro then violently took her in his arms from behind her, wrapping one arm around her neck and using his free hand to fondle her. "I could take you right now and you'd be too weak to do anything about it; if only I weren't so repulsed by you. But, if that idiot boyfriend of yours was still alive, I might do it just for fun and make him watch. I always hated the both of you." Valerie felt warm tears spill over of their own free will, and she let out the slightest whimper as his disgusting hand traveled down her torso and settled tucked uncomfortably in her shorts.

"Navarro," Roman said firmly. "Enough. You've wasted too much of your time on your childish games with that one," he added, referring to Valerie as _that one_. Navarro glared at his boss, but did as he was told. He gave Valerie a hard shove forward, and she struggled to walk on her own. They walked through the long, dark tunnel until they came to an opening that was lit by the open sky. In the center of the clearing was the most magnificent gold statue; this is what so many had died for, even centuries before Valerie had arrived on that island. They were standing face to face with the legendary El Dorado. Roman was the first to walk to the center of the room, and he shot a flare gun into the open sky. Soon after, a helicopter was hovering over their position.

"It's magnificent," Roman marveled in awe at the statue. "The craftsmanship- I've never seen anything like it before." Suddenly, hurried footsteps could be heard echoing behind them. Everyone turned to see Nate and Sully standing with their guns drawn. However, mercenaries quickly surrounded them.

"You two should realize by now that I plan for every contingency. Now drop your weapons, or we _will_ kill them both," Roman said unamused, gesturing towards Elena and Valerie. Both men then begrudgingly dropped their guns. Roman then smiled and returned to the statue.

"That's only a shell! The real treasure of El Dorado lies inside. Open it!" Navarro urged him excitedly. "Watch this," he then whispered quietly to Valerie with an evil grin on his face. An unsuspecting Roman then eagerly opened the ornate sarcophagus to reveal a perfectly preserved corpse. Everyone stared in shocked awe for a moment, and then what appeared to be a thin layer of black mist began to protrude from the coffin, and Roman began violently coughing. He then shut the coffin, continuing to cough and barely able to stand. No one was prepared for what happened next. Roman turned to reveal that his eyes had become solid black, and his skin had turned a slight gray color. He growled and snarled viciously just like the zombie creatures from before, and he began running awkwardly towards Navarro, who had been ready to put a bullet in his head. Roman now lay lifeless on the ground. Valerie and Elena both turned away in horror.

"Navarro, that thing wiped out an entire colony! You don't know what you're doing!" Nate pleaded.

"Wrong. I'm the only one on this island who knows what the Hell he's doing," Navarro argued as he still held tight to Valerie and ordered his men to fasten the statue, preparing it to be air lifted. Suddenly, the loud sound of growling began to echo in the room as more monsters filled the area, coming from all directions. Navarro then began dragging Valerie with him up a winding stone staircase, another soldier following behind with Elena. When they reached the top, they forced both women into the helicopter, and Navarro followed after. Valerie and Elena watched the scene unfold below them in horror as the helicopter took off. As they soared higher into the sky, Valerie began to feel hopeless. Then, something below them caught Navarro's eye. Nate was hanging onto the statue for dear life. The soldier sitting next to Elena began shooting at him, laughing as he did so. Elena glared at the man and kicked him out of the helicopter. As the idiot continued to shoot as he fell to his death, a stray bullet killed their pilot.

The helicopter began to spin out of control as Navarro took the controls and attempted to land it on a boat off shore that was waiting for them. Valerie and Elena both braced themselves for impact. The helicopter landed violently in flames and continued to slide for several feet until it came to a complete stop. Valerie looked beside her to see Elena passed out, and she was nearly ready to black out herself. She felt her eyelids becoming heavier the more she fought to stay awake. Her vision was blurry, but she could definitely see Nate. Before she could call out to him, Navarro grabbed his shotgun and began shooting at him recklessly. He had had enough of Nate, and it looked like he had finally cracked. Nate stayed in cover until Navarro had to reload his gun. Nate then took his chance and rushed Navarro; he punched him in the face as hard as he could, knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop his gun. As Navarro reached for his gun, Nate kicked him in the face, knocking him out. Nate then rushed over to the burning helicopter and helped both Valerie and Elena to safety.

"Are you girls alright?" he asked them. They both nodded weakly.

"Nate, look out!" Elena warned him. Navarro was getting up from the ground, gun in hand, ready to shoot. Nate then gave the helicopter one good kick, sending it over the edge of the boat.

"Adios, asshole," he said to Navarro. Before he realized what was going on, he was being pulled down with the helicopter. The cord that had attached the statue to the helicopter had now been tangled around his leg. The three of them quickly moved out of the way and watched as Navarro flailed his arms and tried desperately to find anything to grab onto, but it was useless; his fate had been sealed. He sank with the cursed statue to the bottom of the sea. Everyone remained silent for a moment; no one was sure what to say. Then, the sound of a boat approaching could be heard in the distance. They looked up and saw that it was Victor waving at them from the driver's seat of a smaller boat. That's when they knew that it was finally over and they could finally go home. As Nate and Elena held each other in a romantic embrace, Valerie fell to her knees, letting out a sigh of relief.

"We did it. It's finally over," she exclaimed as her happiness overwhelmed her, manifesting itself in the form of tears. She only wished Eddy were there to share this with.

"You two sure got a funny idea of romantic," Sully said to Elena and Nate as he pulled up beside their boat. He then turned his attention to Valerie. "You must be the Valerie I've been hearing about. Victor Sullivan. It's a pleasure," he said. Valerie gave a small smile and waved awkwardly.

"Pleasure," she added.

"Check it out," Sully said as he lifted a tarp, revealing several boxes full of gold. "I borrowed it from a few pirates that were too dead to care."

"Sully, you beautiful son-of-a-bitch!" Nate exclaimed excitedly. He climbed down to the smaller boat and then helped both Elena and Valerie down. The three of them stared at the island as Sully drove the boat, watching it grow smaller the farther they got away. No one would ever know of the horror they experienced on that island, and they were glad for it.

"How do you feel?" Elena asked her.

"Like I'm in a dream," Valerie answered. "I can't even believe what we've been through, and I _lived_ it," she added with a laugh. "I worry about what this whole experience is going to do to me," she added more seriously.

"It's nothing years of therapy won't fix," Nate added, overhearing their conversation. Valerie smiled weakly.

"I'll be okay one day. Right now, it just feels impossible. I definitely can't go back to living a normal life after this. I don't know what's next for me," she said with a heavy sigh. Nate gave her a solid pat on the back.

"If you ever need some excitement, you're always welcome on my next adventure."

"Thanks. You never know. I might have to take you up on that offer," Valerie said with a laugh. As the four of them continued to joke with each other and recount their experiences, Valerie couldn't help but feel that much closer to reaching the peace of mind she desired. As much as she would love to forget that island ever existed, she had grown and changed so much over a short period because of her experiences and the people she'd met; it seemed like it had happened in the blink of an eye. The more she dwelled on it, the more she realized she wouldn't take it back; she loved her friends, and she was happy to have known Eddy. Valerie would always treasure those memories; she never wanted to forget him. She was happy to have known the strength she had known on that island. She was a stronger, more confident version of herself, and she knew that she could handle whatever adventure she chose to embark upon next. She smiled to herself as she realized these people had changed her life forever, and there was absolutely no turning back now.

"What are you smiling for, Val?" Elena asked.

"I just can't wait to see what the future holds, that's all," she said with a smile, knowing that no matter what the future held, Nate, Elena, and Sully were going to be a part of it, and that was enough for Valerie.


	9. Epilogue

Valerie sat alone in her apartment with a book in her hand and a cup of coffee sitting on the coffee table beside her, sipping on it occasionally and smiling to herself as she flipped through the pages of her worn copy of Plato's _Symposium._ Her Pitbull, Salem, laid beside Valerie on her back, her head in Valerie's lap and tongue hanging out the side of her mouth as Valerie scratched her belly, only taking a break to flip to the next page.

Salem's ears perked as she heard the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs to the apartment, and she launched herself off the couch and sat ready at the door to greet whoever it was. The door opened, Valerie smiled at the sight of Salem hassling Jeff the moment he walked in the door, her heart at peace now that he entire family was home.

"There's my good girl, always so happy to see Daddy," Jeff cooed as he rubbed Salem's ears and kicked the door shut behind him.

"What about me?" Valerie asked as she got up from the couch to greet her fiancé. Jeff smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist as she wrapped her around his neck.

"I thought you were my _bad_ girl, also always excited to see _Daddy,_ " he said with a grin. Valerie chuckled quietly before pressing her lips gently to his and kissing him. Valerie pulled away from the kiss and blushed, averting her eyes away from Jeff's as he looked down at her and smiled like she was the only woman in the world, the only woman he couldn't ever give his heart to.

"C'mon, don't look at me that way. It's embarrassing," she said as she bashfully played with her long hair.

"C'mon, Val. I'm just so happy with our life. Aren't you?"

"Of course I am. But, even so, you can still look at me like that after we've been dating so long? And we're about to be married. Doesn't that scare you at all?" Valerie asked.

Jeff sat with her on the leather couch and held her hands tenderly in his, stroking them with his thumbs. "Not at all, not as long as I have you with me, I couldn't be afraid of anything."

"There you go, saying things like that again," Valerie grumbled, hiding her embarrassment behind her long hair.

"Wait, are you afraid? Wasn't it you that took down an entire army of pirates? But, this, you're afraid of?" he asked with a laugh. Valerie laughed and gave him a playful punch in the arm.

"It's not that I'm afraid. It's just that- do we really need to make this a big deal? I mean, today, I spent three hours with Elena tasting cake. There were so many different varieties of chocolate, I actually thought I was going to lose it today. I just don't see the point in fussing over every little thing. It's stressing me out."

Jeff pulled Valerie into his lap and rested his chin on her head as he spoke, petting her hair with one hand, and holding her hand with the other, his fingers laced with hers.

"I can be more involved in the planning process if that's what you need. I just want this to be the most special day for you, you know?"

"It _will_ be, but not because of some stupid cake, or center pieces, or dress. It'll be the best day of my life because I'm marrying you. Can't we just fire the wedding planner and have a simple ceremony?"

"I'd be all for that, except we've already paid her, and the DJ," Jeff said with a laugh. Valerie shook her head and laughed with him.

"Well, shit. Okay. If you help me deal with our crazy wedding planner more, I promise I'll get more excited about, oh, I don't know, flower arrangements, and invitations, and all that. We'll have everything we need to make it the most memorable day of _our_ lives," she said with a smile.

"Good," he said as he kissed her on the forehead.

"Okay. Now, tell me about your day," Valerie said, perking up like a puppy. Jeff became visibly nervous as he rolled Valerie off of his lap and got up from the couch.

"Why don't I make us a couple of drinks first? I have big news worth celebrating," he said as he made his way into the kitchen.

"That's exciting. What are we celebrating?" Valerie asked.

"Well," Jeff said as he returned to the couch and handed Valerie her usual Amaretto Sour, "We've got a hit on Lazarovic, and we know where he is."

"Honey, that's fantastic!" Valerie said with a wide smile.

"Isn't it? I'm glad you're excited, because we got the permits and the funding to chase this story. We're heading for Nepal in two days."

Valerie dropped her glass to the floor, feeling like the wind had just been knocked out of her.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked, making sure she heard him correctly.

"He's in Nepal, leveling towers and destroying the place in search of something. Elena's passionate about this and so am I. The guy needs to be stopped, and this story is huge for us."

"So let NATO fucking handle it! You're not going to Nepal. Are you out of your mind? Is Elena? That place is in the middle of a war, and Lazarovic is there on top of it? No. I'm sorry, no," Valerie said as she angrily paced back and forth across the living room.

Jeff stood up and took her in his arms, holding her tight against him. He rubbed her back and stroked her hair.

"You know I can't turn this opportunity down."

"Then take me with you," Valerie begged, on the verge of tears.

"What? No, I'm sorry. That's out of the question."

"Well, why? You said it yourself- I took down an army of pirates almost entirely by myself. I'm more qualified to be in that environment than you. I just can't-" Valerie ripped herself away from him and began hyperventilating and crying, her separation anxiety creeping up on her.

Jeff scooped her up in his arms and held her like a new bride as he carried her back to the couch. She curled into a ball in his arms as he slowly rocked his body back and forth. He held her so tightly that she had no choice but to take long, slow drags of air instead of hyperventilating. He kissed her cheek, her neck, her forehead, her hair, all over until she stopped crying.

"You're not going without me," she said finally.

"You can't just-"

"No, _you_ can't just. You can't just leave me here and go off in the middle of a war zone. What am I supposed to do if something happens? Is Elena gonna be the one to tell me that you died? What then? You are _not_ doing that to me. You're not leaving me here alone."

Valerie's eyes watered as all this was beginning to feel too familiar to her.

"Listen," she said in a softer tone. "I made a decision once that I have to live with, and it still kills me that I didn't fight hard enough to get my way. I'm not letting that happen again. Tell me that you won't go. If you can't, then tell Elena I'm going with you. That's the only way this is going to work, Jeff."

Valerie caressed his face in her hands and leered up at him like she was seeing him for the first time again. He blushed and avoided making eye contact with her. She kissed him gently. "Please stay..." she whispered between kisses, kissing his lips, his neck, his fingers.

"What do I have to do?" she asked as she removed her blouse and threw it to the ground.

"Valerie, you're only going to make this harder," Jeff said, his hands trembling as he fought the urge to put them on her.

"Harder for you to leave?" she asked as she kissed his neck and gently rubbed on his groin through his jeans. She smiled as she felt the throbbing of an erection beneath her hand, and let out a quiet, restrained moan in his ear.

"Valerie, STOP," Jeff said, putting two hands on her shoulders and giving her one firm shake. "This is only going to make it harder on YOU when I leave. Is that what you want? To make love to me and then have me leave?"

"Yes, no, I don't know!" Valerie buried her face in her hands and doubled over in his lap out of frustration. "I want you to stay. You know that. And I know you can't stay. I'm just- so desperate to make you stay. And, of course I would want to make love to you before you leave. I don't ever want to stop."

Jeff blushed and turned away from her again.

"Valerie..."

"No, I mean it, Jeff. You're leaving in two days, and I assume you'll be gone for months. Don't you want to spend every second with me up until you have to leave?" she pouted.

"Of course. I just don't want to love you then leave you, you know?"

"Make a promise to me right now, on our wedding day, on our future together, on our future kids. Promise me that you'll come back home to me," she demanded.

"I promise. I'll come home safe. We'll get married, we'll have a beautiful family, and I'll grow old with you."

"Then, don't worry about loving and leaving me," Valerie said.

Jeff relinquished all control and restraint he had exercised previously. He kissed Valerie and laid her down gently, savoring every sigh that left Valerie's lips, every movement she made, every smile, every laugh for 48 hours, up until the very last moment, until he said goodbye.


End file.
